BRITISH PERIODICAL CRITICISM OF JAMES FENIMORE COOPER, 1821-1851: AN ANNOTATED CHECKLIST

Thirty-three of Cooper's fictional works and ten of his non-fiction writings were reviewed, often abundantly, by the British. In addition, Cooper was a subject of general articles in the British press throughout his career. It is upon 358 of these early transatlantic Cooper criticisms, less than a third of which have been cited in previous scholarship, that this dissertation is based. All but thirty-three of these reviews and articles remain anonymous. Known authors include William Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, J. G. Lockhart, William Maginn, Mary Shelley, and William Makepeace Thackeray.;In Great Britain, where Cooper received his share of negative reviews and slighting estimates, reaction to Cooper's writing was often complimentary and sometimes highly flattering. Despite examples to the contrary, most of Cooper's British reviewers sought steadfastly to judge the work, not the man. While they disagreed strikingly much of the time, most were more than willing to grant approval when they liked what Cooper wrote. What they liked best were his early tales of adventure at sea and of the American past. Cooper's most popular successes all appeared before 1828 or from 1840 to 1841, and several were among the earliest works of American literature praised by the British.;This study is in two parts. Part I, in four chapters, provides a comprehensive account of the critical response in British periodicals to Cooper's writing from 1821 to 1851. Chapter One is a compilation of historical information about each of the ninety Reviews, magazines, weeklies, and newspapers that published criticisms cited in this dissertation. Chapter Two discusses general practices of British reviewing and the state of Anglo-American literary relations existing at the time. Chapter Three traces chronologically the evolution of Cooper's reputation among British reviewers to the end of his career. Chapter Four summarizes the British response to Cooper, emphasizing what the British liked and disliked most in Cooper's writing. Part II lists chronologically, by year of publication, the 313 notices and reviews and 45 general items that are the principal basis of this dissertation. All entries in this section, except three I have not seen, are annotated.