Strolling through the American Cultural Garden [Part 5]

Báo Quốc Tế•29/04/2024

Despite having a shorter history compared to countries on the Old Continent, America has produced outstanding writers whose works have been reflected over the past 200 years. The following is a brief introduction to some American writers, including several Nobel Prize winners in Literature.

Washington Irving (1783-1859) is considered the father of American literature.

Washington Irving (1783-1859) is considered the father of American literature and the creator of the American short story (a very popular genre). He was born into a wealthy merchant family. After studying law, he went abroad due to health reasons. Upon his return, he worked as a lawyer but preferred writing.

Irving's 1809 book, *History of New York*, was the first significant satirical work in America; his character, the Dutchman Knickerbocker, typified the early New Yorkers. In 1818, after failing in his family business, Irving moved to England and lived there for 17 years.

He wrote The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon (1820), which became famous simultaneously in America and England; this collection of essays and short stories includes Rip Van Winkle. The story has an Eastern flavor, although the author intended to adapt this folk tale to highlight the differences between old and new American society; it is more satirical than romantic.

Irving served as an attaché at the American embassy in Spain (1826-1829). He shifted to a different writing style in *Hystory of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus* (1828), *The Conquest of Granada* (1829), and *The Alhambra* (1832). After returning to America, he wrote biographies of Oliver Goldsmith and Washington. He favored industrialization, seeking to escape the present and return to a romantic and less complicated past.

James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) was of English-Swedish descent. His father was a wealthy landowner. He was expelled from Yale University months before graduation. Afterward, he served as a sailor in the Navy. Therefore, the sea became a subject of his writing; he later published *The History of the Navy of the United States of America* (1839).

His two years at sea also allowed him to indulge his passion for vast open spaces and wild nature. At 22, he married a woman who worked in agriculture . At 31, he began writing novels. From 1826 to 1833, he lived in Europe with his family. In his later years, he returned to Cooperstoron, a town founded by his father in New York State.

Cooper rose to fame with his novel *The Spy* (1821), written at the age of 32, which was acclaimed not only in America but also in Europe. The story tells of an American patriot who works as a spy in the British army and is finally exonerated after several decades.

The Pioneers (1823), written two years later, introduced Natty Bumppo, nicknamed the Leather-Stocking Boy or the Hawk-Eyed Man; he was raised by Native Americans from a young age, becoming a kind of wild man living naturally, untouched by the pollution of civilization.

Readers requested that he continue writing about the man in leather stockings, so he continued the collection of stories, *Leather-Stocking Tales* (1823-1841). Two of his most famous stories are *The Last of the Mohicans* (1826) and *The Deersbayer* (1841).

The Last of the Mohicans is the author's most captivating work. The story takes place against the backdrop of the Franco-British War in North America, before the British colonies claimed independence. Monro commands a remote British outpost threatened by the French commander Montcalm. He seeks help from another British outpost. A contingent of 1,500 soldiers, led by Heyward, is sent to assist him. The group also escorts Monro's two daughters, Alice, Heyward's lover, and Cora. Magua, a Native American, leads the way.

The Huron tribal chief, harboring resentment towards Monro who had once attacked him, led Hayward, two girls, and several others along a shortcut into an ambush set by pro-French Native Americans. Fortunately, the English encountered some sympathetic Native Americans (Hawk-Eye and Uncas – the last of the Mohicans) and escaped, reaching the besieged fort. The fort fell.

The English who escaped encountered the Hurons. Some were captured, including two girls. Monro and Hawk-Eye went in search of them. Cora was considered a trophy, divided among Magua. Eventually, the English, aided by another Native American tribe, defeated the Hurons. But before Hawk-Eye killed her, Magua murdered Cora and her lover, Uncas. The white and Native American lovers were buried together under the pine trees. Alice returned to the land of the white people.

The Deer Slayer writes about the youth of the hunter Natty Bumpoo, "The Skinny Stocking Man." He and his friends live with the Delaware Native American tribe and fight against the Huron Native American tribe with the help of the British. Natty becomes a close friend of the Delaware tribal chief.

Cooper pioneered the historical novel in American literature. He wrote about seafaring, Native Americans, and the expansion of the American frontier westward. He was the author of many adventure stories that were popular with young people around the world .

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