History and Utopia: A Study of the World View of James Fenimore Cooper by Allan M. Axelrad (review)

84 Western American Literature forward and informal, skillfully allowing Steinbeck to speak for himself through the letters. One sees flashes and vignettes of the private side of this shy and sensitive man. This is the intimate Steinbeck — the man who sounds like someone in search of himself — “I sit upon this beautiful ranch in this comfortable chair . . . with a perfect servant and a beautiful dog and I think I’m more homesick than ever.” SAL NOTO, Cupertino, California History and Utopia: A Study of the World View of James Fenimore Cooper. By Allan M. Axelrad. (Norwood, Pennsylvania: Norwood Editions, 1978. x -f- 231 pages, index, $22.50.) This volume is the most singularly dull work I have read in years. The stuffy prose reads, in the main, more like a poorly-written Master’s thesis than the definitive synthesis of Cooper it purports to be. Axelrad’s main thesis is that the picture of Cooper that emerges from his novels, letters, and non-fiction is one of coherent and consistent conserva­ tism — “a profound conservatism that issues from a theological evaluation of man’s essential nature, and which extends from the religious sphere to all walks of life.” The author then attempts to illustrate Cooper’s con­ servatism by establishing a value system he terms “proximate utopia and proximate anti-utopia,” both sides of which illustrate Cooper’s basic philo­ sophical nature. But these two terms are really less than profound. Most individuals and “all” world cultures propound views which are based on systems of duality, especially orthodox Christianity. Thus, Axelrad’s two polar opposites are really profane symbols of Christian duality rather than a new or fresh value system. What all this of course means is that Axelrad is not taking a new look at Cooper — it just sounds that way. In structuring and explicating his views of Cooper, Axelrad uses the theories and writings of scholars like Mircea Eliade and Reinhold Niebuhr. Since both of these writers have dwelt on the distinctions between the sacred and the profane, and since, according to the author, Cooper’s value system is inextricably involved with the Christian system of duality, it seems ironical that Axelrad never really comes to terms with what Cooper considered the sacred. I believe that if we understood what was really sacred to Cooper, we would take a large step forward in coming to terms with his fiction. But Axelrad has not provided that explanation. Thus his use of Eliade and Niebuhr becomes a kind of tokenism — a tokenism that trails at the heels of what is really rather deadly, formalistic criticism. Reviews 85 Closely related to Cooper’s perception of the sacred is his perception of Time. To this Axelrad rightly alludes. But, once again, the author is mistaken when he calls Cooper’s perception of historical time cyclical. If Cooper was the Christian conservative Axelrad claims, his perception of time would, by definition, have been strictly linear. These and other incon­ sistencies in the book cast doubt on Axelrad’s ability to synthesize. That is not to say the book is not well researched. It is. But Axelrad’s research has not, I believe, led to perceptions of truth or a better understanding of Cooper. In his preface the author rightfully notes that no definitive modem biography of Cooper exists. I would go a step further and say that no definitive book of criticism has been written about Cooper’s work. We sorely need more solid interpretaton of an author whose works have profoundly influenced all of western American literature, but Axelrad has not pro­ vided this interpretation. RICHARD C. POULSEN, Brigham Young University Decompressions: Selected Poems. By Philip Whalen. (Bolinas: Four Seasons Foundation, 1978. 85 pages, $3.50.) Off the Wall: Interviews with Philip Whalen. Edited by Donald Allen. Bolinas, California: Four Seasons Foundation, 1978. 88 pages, $3.50.) I mean it’s one of the manifestations of my character. But then, so is my interest in music, and in visionary experiences of various kinds, and in — being me. And, later on, people decided that what I was doing was called “poetry,” but to me, it’s something — just one of the things I...