The settlers

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Pioneers", title of the original 1823 edition
Illustration by FOC Darley, 1861
The Chingachgook rock on the south bank of Lake Otsego, from "Die Gartenlaube", 1897

The settlers or the sources of Susquehanna (original title: The Pioneers, or the Sources of the Susquehanna ) is a social novel published in 1823 by the American writer James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851). The first German translation of the novel appeared in 1824.

The settlers appeared as the first volume in the five-part Lederstrumpf - cycle to the main character of Natty Bumppo who lives as hunters and trappers on the border of civilization. In the chronological plot of the series, the novel forms the fourth volume.

content

The action takes place around the year 1793, on the western border of New York State . The main characters are the aged leather stocking (Natty Bumppo) and the judge Marmaduke Temple, large landowner and founder of the Templeton settlement.

The story begins with a dispute between Lederstockpf and the judge over the possession of a newly hunted stag. In the following course of action, however, both of them, each in his own way, stand up against the ruthless exploitation of nature by the settlers.

The plot comes to a head when Lederstockpf and his companion Chingachgook begin to compete with Judge Temple for the loyalty of the young visitor Oliver Edwards and Lederstockpf breaks the hunting laws . Edwards eventually marries Elisabeth, the judge's daughter. When Chingachgook dies, Lederstockpf leaves his hut on the shores of Lake Otsego and moves further west into the freedom of the wilderness.

people

  • Nathaniel (Natty) Bumppo, aka Leather Stocking, aka Hawk's Eye.
  • Judge Marmaduke Temple, founder of Templeton.
  • Elisabeth Temple, daughter of the judge.
  • Richard Jones, sheriff and cousin of the judge.
  • Hiram Doolittle, architect and justice of the peace .
  • Monsieur Le Quoi, French immigrant and merchant in Templeton.
  • Major Friedrich (Fritz) Hartmann, German settler and regular visitor to the judge's house.
  • Reverend Grant, Anglican minister.
  • Ben Pump (Benjamin Penguillan), servant to the judge.
  • Remarkable Pettibone, the judge's housekeeper.
  • Dr. Elnathan Todd, doctor.
  • Chingachgook (John Mohegan), the "last of the Mohicans" and leatherstocking companion.
  • Oliver Edwards, the young hunter and friend of Leatherstockings and Chingachgooks.
  • Mr. and Mrs. Hollinger, owners of the inn "The Bold Dragoon".
  • Billy Kirby, lumberjack.
  • Louisa Grant, Reverend Grant's daughter.
  • Chester Lippet, infamous lawyer.
  • Dirck Van der School, the judge's righteous attorney.

Form and position in the history of literature

Cooper provides the reader with a detailed description of the fictional town of Templeton and the surrounding landscape. It describes the development and colonization of the wilderness and the development of a settlement into an urban settlement area.

The novel shows parallels between the person of the judge and the author's father, Judge William Cooper (1754-1809), as well as between the fictional town and the small town of Cooperstown, New York, founded by William Cooper in the 1780s .

The changes in the rapidly developing state and the landscape around Lake Otsego , questions of environmental responsibility and the preservation and use of nature become a central theme for Cooper. "The Settlers" is considered to be one of the first ecological novels in American literature .

literature

Text output

  • The settlers . Complete edition. Edited translation by E. Kolb u. a. by Rudolf Drescher, illustrations by D. E. [!] Darley, Insel-Taschenbuch 182, 1st edition, Frankfurt am Main 1977, ISBN 3-458-01882-4

Secondary literature

  • Duncan Faherty: Remodeling the Nation: The Architecture of American Identity, 1776-1858 . University Press of New England, Lebanon (New Hampshire) 2009, ISBN 978-1-58465-655-5

Web links

Commons : The settlers  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: The Pioneers  - Sources and full texts (English)
Wikisource: On Lederstocking's footsteps  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. Faherty, p 133
  2. Helmbrecht Breinig, Hubert Zapf (ed.): American literary history . J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart-Weimar 1997, p. 78, ISBN 3-476-01203-4
  3. Erland Munch-Petersen: The translation literature as entertainment of the romantic reader: a contribution to reception research . Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 1991, p. 97, ISBN 3-447-03208-1