The Pilot / The Red Rover
by James Fenimore Cooper
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A collection of two sea novels by the author: "The Pilot," in which a navy hero attacks the English coast during the Revolutionary War, and "The Red Rover," centering on an eighteenth-century pirate.Tags
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THE PILOT | read 2024-03
Evidently Cooper helped inaugurate the sea novel genre with The Pilot (1824), though reportedly he was responding to the inaccuracies of Scott's The Pirate (1822). As a reader of O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels, I was curious how Cooper would treat a similar subject: someone living during the Age of Sail and with personal nautical experience, would O'Brian have borrowed from Cooper's writing at all?
Certainly not prose style, though it's conceivable certain characters could have influenced O'Brian's approach, particularly to his extensive supporting cast rather than Aubrey's or Maturin's personalities. I'm thinking not only of Mr Gray, the mysterious Scottish pilot-cum-pirate, but especially of young midshipman show more Merry, and cockswain Long Tom Coffin, "sea-faring man".
Cooper spends at least half of his plot ashore, not engrossed in shore actions or port landings but in parlour conversation. Indeed, Cooper's melodrama combines family infighting and betrothal with national fervour and international politics, the titular pilot Mr Gray a stand-in for John Paul Jones and the plot replaced at lengthy intervals with extensive conversations between Loyalists and Colonists, Lords and Ladies, Marines and able Sailors. Chapter 10 presents a political argument in the guise of family conflict, encapsulating the novel overall.
Descriptions of shipboard life, naval etiquette, battles, and sailing seem authentic: I would have liked to have more.
Likely I'll read Red Rover as it's readily available in this omnibus edition, but in no especial hurry.
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to read:
RED ROVER show less
Evidently Cooper helped inaugurate the sea novel genre with The Pilot (1824), though reportedly he was responding to the inaccuracies of Scott's The Pirate (1822). As a reader of O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels, I was curious how Cooper would treat a similar subject: someone living during the Age of Sail and with personal nautical experience, would O'Brian have borrowed from Cooper's writing at all?
Certainly not prose style, though it's conceivable certain characters could have influenced O'Brian's approach, particularly to his extensive supporting cast rather than Aubrey's or Maturin's personalities. I'm thinking not only of Mr Gray, the mysterious Scottish pilot-cum-pirate, but especially of young midshipman show more Merry, and cockswain Long Tom Coffin, "sea-faring man".
Cooper spends at least half of his plot ashore, not engrossed in shore actions or port landings but in parlour conversation. Indeed, Cooper's melodrama combines family infighting and betrothal with national fervour and international politics, the titular pilot Mr Gray a stand-in for John Paul Jones and the plot replaced at lengthy intervals with extensive conversations between Loyalists and Colonists, Lords and Ladies, Marines and able Sailors. Chapter 10 presents a political argument in the guise of family conflict, encapsulating the novel overall.
Descriptions of shipboard life, naval etiquette, battles, and sailing seem authentic: I would have liked to have more.
Likely I'll read Red Rover as it's readily available in this omnibus edition, but in no especial hurry.
//
to read:
RED ROVER show less
Before Melville's Moby Dick appeared, Cooper's Sea Tales such as "The Pilot" & "Red Rover" caught the eye of readers who impressed them with tales of the sea with the background of the American Revolution. His knowledge of the sea sets him apart in using sea life of those who challenged the uncertainties of the ocean. Cooper's characters he presented as those who were shaped by the ever changing nature of sea life beset by dangers & character building.
This a Library of America edition. We purchased many for the MHS Library, and somehow one was duplicated. Each book is hardcover with a ribbon bookmark, and includes a biography, the authors works and some of their titles. This book's jacket is missing.
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504+ Works 30,706 Members
James Fenimore Cooper, acclaimed as one of the first American novelists, was born in Burlington, N.J., on September 15, 1789. When he was one year old, his family moved to Cooperstown, N.Y., which was founded by his father. Cooper attended various grammar schools in Burlington, Cooperstown, and Albany, and entered Yale University in 1803 at the show more age of 13. In 1806, Cooper was expelled from Yale for pushing a rag with gunpowder under a classmate's door, causing it to explode. He then spent some time as a merchant seaman and served as a midshipman in the U.S. Navy from 1808-1811. In 1811, Cooper married Susan De Lancey, and lived the life of a country gentleman until one day in 1820. Cooper and his wife were reading a book together. When Cooper told Susan that he could write a better book than the one they were reading, she challenged him to do so. Thus began his career as an author, with Precaution (first published anonymously). Cooper is known for writing more than 50 works under his own name, Jane Morgan, and Anonymous. His works included fiction, nonfiction, history, and travel sketches. He gained insight for his travel works while the Cooper family lived in Europe from 1826 to 1833. Cooper is best known for the novel The Last of The Mohicans, which has been made into several motion picture adaptations, the most recent starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Hawkeye. The Last of the Mohicans is part of The Leatherstocking Tales, which includes the other novels, The Pioneers, The Deerslayer, and The Pathfinder. Hawkeye, whose given name is Nathaniel Bumpo, is a recurring character in the series which accurately chronicles early American pioneering life and events during the French and Indian War. In 1851, Cooper developed a liver condition, dying on September 14th of that year, just one day before his 62nd birthday. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Library of America (054)
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- Canonical title
- The Pilot / The Red Rover
- Original publication date
- 1991-08-01
- Publisher's editor
- House, Kay Seymour; Philbrick, Thomas
- Disambiguation notice
- This is an omnibus unique to the Library of America; therefore, all CK facts apply to this publication only.
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- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.60)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 1
- ASINs
- 2
