No Subject

[Alex]

By browsing through the reviews made on this particular J. F. Cooper novel, one gets the impression as if the critics making some of the comments have not actually read it very attentively, or just quickly brushed over it so as to fulfil their compulsory reading obligation set by the tutor. Hardly a starting point for making a worthy and valid comment.<br><br>I first read The Last of the Mohicans when I was about 10, (although in Hungarian translation) and was so fascinated with it that I was simply compelled to go on and read all 5 books in the series. Though it certainly owes much to the romantic style it had been written in, as a young boy I was getting so fascinated with the characters and events depicted in the book by the writer, my imagination set off by the plot in such a fashion that no movie or TV dramatisation can come even close to.<br><br>It is true, I may be biased and may still be one of those few holding a view that nothing can replace a mind's eye, favouring rather the power of conception as opposed to some passive viewing in the flicks or in front of a TV set.<br><br>The moral of this story and the other "Leatherstocking" novels runs deep in the frontiersman Natty Bumppo's frame of mind, his profound love of the wilderness and respect for all forms of life - be it a redskin or a whiteskin, an animal or a plant.<br>Hardly have I come across a writer depicting nature, the wilderness, the indigenous people and much else with such warmth and fascination. An environmentalist well ahead of his own time?!<br>Had more people read this book and taken heed of, perhaps a greater number of aboriginal people would be flourishing today instead of the few languishing as drunkards and misfits whose lives through generations have come undone in various indian reservations across the American continent.<br><br>A final thought. I am yet to see a film - in any category - that eclipses the original literary work it was based on.<br>