James Cooper's Sea Writing And National Imagination

As one of the pioneering authors of American literature, James Fenimore Cooper made indelible contributions to American literature by paving the way for the debut of sea fiction, fiction of western frontiers and historical romances, etc.. Marvelous as his literary talents were, and prolific as his literary output was, Cooper's literary achievements, most pitiably, had long been understated by literary critics as only restricted to the Leather Stocking Tales so much so that his sea fiction was largely overlooked if not pigeonholed. On the contrary, Cooper's sea fiction is by no means outshone by his frontier fiction. As the avant-garde writer of sea fiction, Cooper clinched American outpost position in the sea writing in the map of world literature by producing over ten sea fiction, including The Pilot, The Red Rover, The Water-Witch, The Afloat and Ashore, The Crater, and The Sea Lions,Under what circumstances did Cooper's sea writing happen? Was his sea writing connected with the national interests of the19th America? Was Cooper's sea writing profound with political implications? If so, how did Cooper's sea writing participate in the construction of such political discourses as that of empire building? In what way did Cooper's sea writing contribute and further influence American literature and American thoughts? Such are the major questions the present dissertation tries to answer and on which to lay the framework of the dissertation.Cooper's sea writing happens when19th century American appeal to become a big power was strong, when Maritime activities was flourishing, when nationalism soared high, and when the call to create an independent national literature was high. His sea fiction creates an independent, free national image. He also creates a new cultural identity for the American literature with maritime attribute. Cooper's turn from the western frontier writing to maritime writing just reflects his change of cultural awareness, that is, from land to sea. Cooper's emphasis on the return of American art production activities from the west to the east coast also demonstrates his cultural standpoint, that the maritime culture should transcend the western frontier culture of the United States.Cooper's sea writing vigorously participates in the construction of maritime discourse. He endeavors to build, promote and spread maritime culture and maritime nationalism through a full representation in his sea fiction of the whaling industry, ocean business activities, ship-building and ocean wars, a culture which is predatory, commercial, and competitive in nature, thus pioneering and ground-breaking in the exploring and molding of American identity as a big sea power at the ideological level and from cultural aspect.Cooper's sea writing also reveals his fervent idea of sea hegemony. Stimulated by the spirit of maritime nationalism, and motivated by American appeal to be a big power in the first half of the19th century, Cooper fanatically expresses his view of sea hegemony in his sea fiction and non-fiction and looks forward to the rise of America on the sea. He attempts to construct a powerful national status and a naval force, envisioning a supreme American presence that manipulates the sea and consequently dominates the world militarily, commercially, and financially.Cooper's maritime nationalism and his idea of sea hegemony are actually the direct representations of his consciousness of empire. Cooper's sea writing, especially his Pacific writing reflects his national consciousness, consciousness of sea power and consciousness of colonial territory expansion. In essence, cooper's sea writing is a continuation of the ocean expansion of modern Europe empires. Cooper's sea writing establishes the empire discourse over the fluid ocean space such as the Atlantic and Pacific oceans (including the entire universe) and forms a kind of subtle, but ubiquitous, special form of imperialism, by presenting the flow and mobility of people (writer, missionaries, merchants, travelers) and objects (capital, merchant, whaling) in the fluid ocean spaces such as the Atlantic and Pacific oceans (including the entire universe).The main body of the dissertation consists of five chapters corresponding to the questions raised.The Introduction briefly introduces the status of the cooper in American literature; roughly traces the historical development and current situation of the research on cooper at home and abroad; expounds the significance of this paper and the research orientation; puts forward the train of thought, methodology, structure.The first chapter discusses Cooper's sea writing as a representation of national consciousness. The paper first surveys the representative works of three different periods. Meanwhile, the paper also roughly divides his sea writing into the Atlantic and Pacific fiction according to the change of backgrounds and space in novels. Cooper's sea writing not only reflects his ocean consciousness, but his national consciousness and national imagination.The second chapter expounds cooper's sea writing in relation to maritime nationalism and national identity. Cooper sea writing is distinctively interwoven with maritime nationalism, heroism and patriotism. Grown up in the rising period of United States as a marine power, and influenced by maritime nationalism, Cooper constructs American marine image and identity, builds maritime culture which is essentially predatory, commercial and competitive, and spread maritime nationalism by presenting in a number of sea fiction American marine trade, whaling, and shipbuilding and maritime war. This is not only the revelation of cooper's nationalist passion, and also a direct embodiment of his national consciousness.The third chapter fervently expresses his view of sea power in his maritime works and looks forward to the rise of America on the sea. He attempts to construct a powerful national status and a naval force, envisioning a supreme American presence that manipulates the sea and consequently dominates the world militarily, commercially, and financially. However, Cooper's idea of sea power also reflects his empire consciousness.Chapter four mainly focuses on Cooper's empire discourse revealed in his sea fiction and fiction of the frontier. Cooper's Pacific writing and Atlantic writing, especially his pacific writing, are the products of an expansionary age. Cooper fiction participates in the establishment on the geographical, literary and mental map a kind of legitimacy of American presence on the vast land and over the sea by presenting the mobility of people, ship, capital, goods and materials on the western continent and over the ocean space.Last but certainly not the least, the concluding chapter summarizes Cooper's literary achievements and the significant impact on culture and ideology of the United States. Cooper's art of fiction and his social and political thought leaves rich legacy in American literature and culture. Cooper's cultural impact is manifested mainly in two aspects. First of all, cooper pioneered in sea fiction tradition in the United States. This tradition, together with his view of localization of literary production has a deep repercussion on Herman Melville (even Joseph Conrad) and American sea fiction creation in general. Secondly, cooper promotes in his works the maritime culture of the United States, enhances the national ocean consciousness, and also indirectly affects the birth of the theory of sea power. His works has important implications for empire building.