Twain - Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences

Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences (1895). By Mark Twain.

This little essay has to be the least favorite of mine in this collection. While there was substantial humor in some of the outlandish attacks on the writings of James Fenimore Cooper. "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" (Twain, 59). That's very funny. It's smart, witty and quick. "Cooper's art has some defects. In one place in Deerslayer, and in the restricted space of two-thirds of a page, Cooper has scored 114 offences against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record" (Twain, 59). That's outrageous. That's what makes it funny. I read this and settled in for what I thought would be a funny essay. What I got was seemingly mean-spirited and overly judgmental.

I'll admit I like Cooper. I liked The Last of the Mohicans; I loved The Spy. But, I like Twain substantially more than I like Cooper. But, the more I read him criticizing and criticizing Cooper, I got to wondering if Twain didn't write that essay after one of his works was bashed in a newspaper. It got me thinking about chefs who spout off about critics after one gives them an unfavorable review. All in all, I thought the work was slightly unfair and unduly harsh. It didn't stop it from being funny. But I felt as if I was forced to laugh at a pretty descent storyteller to enjoy the essay.