The last of the Mohicans

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Book cover of a German edition from the publishing house of Aschendorffschen Buchhandlung, 1899

The Last of the Mohicans is a historical novel by the American writer James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851), first published in 1826 , whose action is set in North America at the time of the Seven Years' War . It is the second novel in the “ Leatherstocking ” series about the trapper Natty Bumppo. Not only in the title, the novel also addresses the downfall of North American Indian tribes by the advancing European settlers. Already popular in Germany in the 19th century, the phrase "the last of the Mohicans" became proverbial for many surviving contemporary witnesses or supporters of an idea.

The Italian explorer Giacomo Beltrami , who had lived with the Sioux people for a few months in 1823 , accused James Fenimore Cooper of plagiarism after the publication of his novel , since in his novel of 1826 the descriptions of the Indians, their characters, their demeanor and customs with them in Beltrami's book Le découverte des sources du Mississippi, first published in New Orleans in 1824, were almost identical.

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Title page of a German edition by Ferdinand Hirt & Sohn , 1888. The illustration by Michał Elwiro Andriolli shows the Mohican Uncas.

The novel takes place at the time of the battles between the French and the English (with Indian allies on both sides) for colonial supremacy in North America during the Seven Years' War . The subject of the novel is the historically documented massacre of the British garrison at Fort William Henry in 1757. On the other hand, the subsequent kidnapping of two daughters of the commandant, Colonel George Munro, is purely fictional . However, this storyline is based on an actual event .

The representation of the participating Indian tribes of the Mohicans - represented by Chingachgook and Uncas - and Hurons - with Magua - is typified and does not correspond to reality. However, in its time it had a great influence on the public presentation and the later discussion about bringing the Indians to reservations.

In the story, Uncas and Natty Bumppo, called Hawkeye (Hawkeye), try to free Munro's two kidnapped daughters, Cora and Alice, from the hands of the Hurons. Their leader Magua wants to make the dark-haired Cora his wife. There are Major Duncan Heyward, blond Alice's lover, and a preacher named David Gamut. You will be caught in deadly battles with the Hurons on your way. In the second half of the novel, the Delaware tribe also plays an important role in the development of the story. The Delaware tribe is actually allied with the Hurons, but the Mohicans Chingachgook and Uncas can bring this tribe to their side through their kinship with the Delaware. In the end, Uncas and Cora die while the Huron tribe is defeated and Alice is freed.

Cooper develops the story from existing Indian history writings rather than from contact with actual people. Nevertheless, he shows a deep understanding of the culture of the American Indians.

In contrast to the other books in the same series, which are hardly linked by the plot, The Last of the Mohicans is continued in the chronologically last volume of the series, The Prairie , where the aged Natty Bumppo, a young grandson of Heyward, who emigrated to the prairie before the settlers and meets Alice and now helps him free his bride.

reception

Adaptations

Since 1920 the book has been filmed in several adaptations. Since the limited film lengths could not take up the whole subject matter of the book, the pure “action” parts were mostly taken up in the films.

Like all other films by this director, the plot of the German silent film The Death Ride of the White Chief (1920), directed by Joe Stöckel , bears no resemblance to Cooper's novel. It is likely to be confused with the leather stocking film adaptation by director Arthur Wellin (with Bela Lugosi as Chingachgook), which was also made in 1920.

The television series South Park parodies the title in episode 9 of the 15th season: "The last Meheecans" (original title: "The last of the Meheecans").

In addition, the person of Chingachgook is mentioned in the song Indianer by the German pop group Pur . The film Chingachgook, the big snake is based on motifs from Cooper's leather stocking novel The Wildtöter .

A comic adaptation of the same name by the French comic artist Cromwell was published in June 2010 by the German Splitter publishing house . For this graphic novel, Cromwell painted paintings that were used as the basis for each page. The classic panel structure was largely dispensed with in order to create the darkest possible atmosphere.

Text output (selection)

German editions

Just a few years after the original was published, there were a number of very superficial translations into German, most of which were edited for young readers. It was not until 2013 that a complete and correct translation by Karen Lauer appeared for the first time , which is based on the language of the original.

  • The last of the Mohicans. Translation by Leonhard Tafel, Verlag SG Liesching 1841. ( online copy )
  • JF Cooper's leather sock. The last of the Mohicans. Novel. Newly translated by Günter Löffler. Licensed edition with the kind permission of Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin. Bestseller of world literature published by Heyne Verlag, Volume No. 8 / II, Munich 1969.
  • The last of the Mohicans. Complete edition. Edited translation by E. Kolb u. a. by Rudolf Drescher, illustrations by DE Darley. Insel-Taschenbuch 180, 1st edition, Frankfurt am Main 1977, ISBN 3-458-01880-8 .
  • The last of the Mohicans: a report on the year 1757. Translation by Leonhard Tafel. Diogenes-Taschenbuch 21816, Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-257-21816-8 .
  • The last of the Mohicans. Translation by Clemens August Fischer, illustrations by Max Slevogt . Dressler Verlag, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-7915-3582-X .
  • The last of the Mohicans: a leather sock tale. Translation by Hermann Gerstner. 2nd edition, Arena-Taschenbuch 0264, Würzburg 2002, ISBN 3-401-00264-3 .
  • The last of the Mohicans. A report from 1757. Translation by Karen Lauer. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-446-24135-0 .

English editions

  • The last of the Mohicans . John Miller, London 1826, 3 volumes (online copies: Volume 1 , Volume 2 , Volume 3 )
  • The last of the Mohicans . Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1937 ( online copy )

literature

  • H. Daniel Peck (Ed.): New Essays on The last of the Mohicans. Cambridge University Press 1992, ISBN 0521377714 .
  • George Dekker (Ed.), John P. Williams (Ed.): James Fenimore Cooper: The Critical Heritage. Routledge 1997, ISBN 0415159288 , pp. 87-114.
  • Craig White: Student Companion to James Fenimore Cooper. Greenwood Publishing 2006, ISBN 0313334137 , pp. 101-124
  • Donald A. Rings: Mode and Meaning in "The Last of the Mohicans". In WM Verhoeven (ed.): James Fenimore Cooper: New Historical and Literary Contexts . Rodopi 1993, ISBN 9051833334 , pp. 109-124.
  • Martin Barker, Roger Sabin: The Lasting of the Mohicans. University Press of Mississippi 1995, ISBN 0878058583 .
  • The Last of the Mohicans. Literary Themes for Students. 2006. HighBeam Research. (June 17, 2014). http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3451000039.html
  • Thomas Philbrick: The Last of the Mohicans and the Sounds of Discord . American Literature, Vol. 43, No. 1 (Mar., 1971), pp. 25-41 ( JSTOR 2924478 )
  • Melissa McFarland Pennell: Masterpieces of American Romantic Literature . Greenwood, 2006, ISBN 9780313331411 , pp. 9-27 ( excerpt (Google Books) )
  • Frank Bergmann: The Meanings of Indians and Their Land in Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. In: Frank Bergmann (ed.): Upstate Literature: Essays in Memory of Thomas F. O'Donnell . Syracuse University Press, 1985, ISBN 0815623313 , pp. 117–128 ( excerpt (Google Books) )

Web links

Wikisource: The Last of the Mohicans  - Sources and full texts
Commons : The Last of the Mohicans  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Steinfeld: The expulsion from the American paradise. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 9./10. March 2013.
  2. ↑ Markus Gasser: "The Last of the Mohicans": reassessment of a classic. Broadcast including conversation with Karen Lauer on Radio SRF 2 on June 3, 2013.