James Fenimore Cooper

Family memories, familiar places and encounters with other writers shape Mary Elizabeth Phillips's account of the American novelist James Fenimore Cooper. Her preface explains that she wants to bring the man into focus through material gathered from relatives, friends and earlier writings. Cooperstown and Otsego Lake receive particular attention: the introduction connects his father's acquisition of forest land with the surroundings that later supplied material for his fiction.

The narrative also follows Cooper into London's literary and artistic circles. Visits bring him into company with Walter Scott, Coleridge and Joanna Baillie, while his comments record the manners and conversation of his hosts. Travel through Holland and Belgium leads back to Paris, and discussion of his writing about America shows the criticism his national loyalties could attract. Readers interested in an author's personal connections will find a biography built around homes, recollections and the social world of nineteenth-century letters.