Michal Peprník
Assimilating American Indians in James Fenimore Cooper’s Novels?
Číslo: 1/2016
Periodikum: Prague Journal of English Studies
Klíčová slova: James Fenimore Cooper; assimilation; survivance; acculturation; Vanishing Indian; the Littlepage Manuscripts; American Indian
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Anotace:
e article employs critical concepts from sociology and anthropology to examine
the stereotype of the Vanishing Indian and disclose its contradictory character. e
article argues that in James Fenimore Cooper’s late novels from the 1840s a type
of American Indian appears who can be regarded as a Vanishing Indian in many
respects as he displays some slight degree of assimilation but at the same time he can
be found to reveal a surprising amount of resistance to the process of vanishing and
marginalization. His peculiar mode of survival and his mode of living demonstrate
a certain degree of acculturation, which comes close to Gerald Vizenor’s survivance and
for which I propose a term critical integration. I base my study on Susquesus (alias
Trackless), Cooper’s less well-known character from e Littlepage Manuscripts,
a three-book family saga.
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the stereotype of the Vanishing Indian and disclose its contradictory character. e
article argues that in James Fenimore Cooper’s late novels from the 1840s a type
of American Indian appears who can be regarded as a Vanishing Indian in many
respects as he displays some slight degree of assimilation but at the same time he can
be found to reveal a surprising amount of resistance to the process of vanishing and
marginalization. His peculiar mode of survival and his mode of living demonstrate
a certain degree of acculturation, which comes close to Gerald Vizenor’s survivance and
for which I propose a term critical integration. I base my study on Susquesus (alias
Trackless), Cooper’s less well-known character from e Littlepage Manuscripts,
a three-book family saga.