A World by Itself: The Pastoral Moment in Cooper's Fiction by H. Daniel Peck (review)

A WORLD BY ITSELF: THE PASTORAL MOMENT IN COOPER'S FICTION BY H. DANIEL PECK (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977. ix-213 pages. $13.50) H. Daniel Peck's enlightening discussion of the pastoral moment in Cooper's fiction is a welcome step in helping to reverse the direction of criticism that over the years has led readers to consider Cooper as an offender of literary art. While it is true, as Twain pointed out in his classic essay, that Cooper's "art" of the forest sometimes suspends belief, Cooper's work deserves more credit. Peck has provided us with that opportunity to see Cooper as more than a hack writer whose novels are important only for their historical and mythic theories of the American frontier. Peck considers these theories valid, though secondary, and he instead addresses Cooper's skills as artist. In his perceptive examination of what he calls Cooper's "poetics of space," Peck demonstrates that the novelist's view is characterized less by a contrast between civilization and nature than by a consistent creation of a world in which enclosure (what Peck calls the "inside") is always valued over an undefined, or neutral, "outside." Peck's analysis of Cooper's art reveals the power of Cooper's novels as embodied in structure, rather than in historical or mythic observations. For example, one fine illustration of Peck's approach is found in his discussion of Cooper's "females." As Peck observes, much has been written on the "wooden" quality of Cooper women (James Russell Lowell once unceremoniously labeled them "All sappy as maples and flat as a prairie"), but as he argues, "if we begin with the premise that the writer's talents were descriptive and pictorial, then character becomes subordinate to, even an aspect of, scene." By demonstrating that Cooper women "areas mucha part of scenery as ruined castlesand picturesque sunsets," Peck shows that in the forest novels these women serve complementary roles as metaphors for nature. Part of this theory evolves from his thesis that in Cooper's works both house and forest reflect the "interiority of feminine presence." As Cooper's forests provide protection and sustenance, so do his women. Peck's approach is both fresh and convincing, and his study is a much-needed réévaluation of Cooper's art. His coverage of Cooper's canon is thorough as are his notes and bibliography. Written in a lucid style, Peck's very readable book should grace every library's shelves. JEFFREY B. WALKER •JEFFREY B. WALKER is a member of the English Department at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. His speciality is Colonial American Literature, and he was chair of this section at the R.M.M.L.A. meeting in Albuquerque. ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW1 75 ...