OR, THE INLAND SEA
In 1840, in an attempt to regain an American reading public that had not taken kindly to the satirical portraits of their society that his recent fiction had provided, Cooper returned to his popular ‘Leatherstocking’ series. This novel was the fourth instalment of that series to be written, but the third in terms of chronological placement. Cooper drew on his own experiences as a midshipman, who had seen service on Lake Ontario, the ‘sea’ of the novel’s title. It is 1759, two years after Last of the Mohicans and Natty Bumppo (referred here as La Longue Carabine) is now middle-aged. In what is now a common narrative device for the series, Natty and Chingachgook find themselves escorting a female heroine through a series of dangerous locations, defending her from attacks by nefarious natives along the way.
Two key features distinguish this particular instalment however. Firstly, there is the romance plot that sees Natty falling in love with his charge, the insipid Mabel Duncan, who is herself in love with Natty’s friend, the sailor Jasper Western. Secondly, there is the inventive use of the great lakes as a setting, which allowed Cooper to combine his popularity as a chronicler of the American wilderness with his skill at creating exciting sea stories. His authority in these matters had recently been enhanced by the publication of his well-received history of the United States Navy in 1839.