Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences

Sing Ruby Siu
English 48B
February 25, 2009
Journal #15 Mark Twain

QUOTE:
“It seems to me that it was far from right for the Professor of English Literature in Yale, the Professor of English Literature in Columbia, and Wilkie Collins, to deliver opinions on Cooper’s literature without having read some of it. It would have been much more decorous to keep silent and let persons talk who have read Cooper” (295).

SUMMARY:
In the opening of Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offences, Mark first quoted many renowned critics’ opinion on James Fenimore Cooper’s The Pathfinder and The Deerslayer. Some mentioned that Cooper’s works represent some of the greatest art in romantic fictions and Cooper himself also ensembles the requirements as a great inventor or woodsman who creates characters. Twain, after all the quotes and reviews, instantly remarks the objective or thesis of his whole essay, which is to counter argue the professionals who commented before they had read the book, and to address the fatal problems and violations of literary art of Cooper’s works as a serious reader, or as someone who simply had done the reading. Twain regarded Cooper a unrealistic and careless observer of nature and writer.

RESPONSE:

In some times of Mark Twain’s life, “he became an extremely outspoken critic not only of other authors, but also of other critics,” and we can simply observe his argumentative and critical writing in this essay (Wikipedia). However, I think that what made him great in humor, criticism and sarcasm is the right shift of tones in his arguments. In this particular essay, Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offense, we can see how Twain first adopted a gentle, submissive and mild tone in stating his view points. Through this, Twain wished to assure the reader that he was still self-possessed, objective and mannered in his critical thoughts.

In the quote above, Twain used phrases like “seems to me,” and “it would have been” to show demonstrate his openness and objectivity in his view. He did not insist his viewpoint was the ultimate truth because he wanted the readers to have a feeling that he was willing to accept others’ opinions on this. Yet, Twain still had to show his stance at the beginning of the essay, so he gently rebuked his oppositions. Instead of saying how insane, defective, implausible and fallacious their points were, he mildly addressed that their opinions were “far from right.” After achieving the nonaggression ambiance, twain wittily presented the fact that these professionals delivered their opinions “without having read some of it,” and left to the readers to conclude whether their opinions were worthwhile reading. At last, he again mildly said that it would be “better” for those ignorant and hypocrite critics to “keep silent,” which conveyed a strong message to those professionals not to write fake. He finally noted that it would also be better to “let persons talk who have read Cooper.” Since Twain was going to prove how detail he had read Cooper’s work, this sentences hinted and implied that readers would know Twain himself was the most suitable person and only speaker who had the right to talk. By challenging the credibility of the others, he himself gained much credibility and authority to be the sole critic of Cooper’s work.