They are:--
_The Spy; a Tale of the Neutral Ground_ (1821).
_The Pilot; a Tale of the Sea_ (1824).
_The Red Rover; a Tale_ (1828).
The last two show Cooper's mastery in telling stories of the sea. Tom
Coffin, in _The Pilot_, is a fine creation.
Some of the more than thirty works of fiction that Cooper wrote are almost
unreadable, and some appeal more to special students than to general
readers. _Satanstoe_ (1845), for instance, gives vivid pictures of
mid-eighteenth century colonial life in New York.
The English critic's query, "Who reads an American book?" could have
received the answer in 1820, "The English public is reading Irving." In
1833, Morse, the inventor of the electric telegraph, had another answer
ready--"Europe is reading Cooper." He said that as soon as Cooper's works
were finished they were published in thirty-four different places in
Europe. American literature was commanding attention for its original work.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.--Cooper's best romances are masterpieces of action
and adventure in the forest and on the sea. No other writer has so well
told the story of the pioneer. He is not a successful novelist of the
drawing-room.
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