The Spy

James Fenimore Cooper, Jeffrey Walker, Lance Schachterle, James P. Elliott

Description

A year after his imitative first novel Precaution (1820) enjoyed only modest success, James Fenimore Cooper penned The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground, a Revolutionary War narrative initiating the American historical romance, a novel and a genre that quickly put to rest the British critic Sydney Smith's 1820 quip, "In the four corners of the globe, who reads an American novel?" Beginning with The Spy, everyone did. The novel excited readers with the perilous adventures of the spy (Harvey Birch, the Yankee peddler) and his contact Mr. Harper (George Washington appearing incognito), both surfacing repeatedly in various disguises and engaged in counterespionage (very clearly a parallel to the John Andre and Benedict Arnold stories) with their guerilla nemeses, the loyalist Cow-Boys and renegade Skinners. The Spy revealed the clash of loyalties within families between public and private duty to country and to self, and served as a microcosm of the new American world, staged in the "neutral ground" between opposing forces in Westchester, New York.

William Gilmore Simms, Cooper's admirer and imitator, declared "The publication of The Spy … was an event," while Boston's North American Review agreed, "the American Revolution is an admirable basis, on which to found fictions of the highest order of romantic interest." This fresh tale generated good American press for the young Cooper, and so set the stage for Cooper's career-long contributions to the development of the American novel.

The editors provide a historical introduction identifying Cooper's sources, as well as detailed explanatory notes to enable readers fully to appreciate the geographical and historical settings in the novel. This scholarly edition, the eighteenth in "The Writings of James Fenimore Cooper," presents an accurate text drawing upon eight texts, from the first edition (with two editorially revised reprintings soon following to satisfy public demand) through the heavily revised Bentley Standard Novels edition (1831) and the more lightly revised Putnam Author's edition (1849). The editors provide a full scholarly apparatus discussing their editorial choices, and the edition has been approved by scholarly peers in the Committee for Scholarly Editions of the Modern Language Association.


Acknowledgments

Historical Introduction

Illustrations

To James Aitchison [1821]

Preface [1821]

Preface to the Second Edition [1822]

To James Aitchison [1822]

Preface to the Third Edition [1822]

Introduction [1831]

Introduction [1849]

The Spy

Explanatory Notes

Textual Commentary

Textual Notes

Emendations

Rejected Readings

Word-Division

Sujets

• Regional
• Historical fiction
• Region
• Adventure fiction

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438478975
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The Spy A Tale of The Neutral Ground

The Writings of JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
JAMES FRANKLIN BEARD, FOUNDING EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, 1966-1989
KAY SEYMOUR HOUSE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, 1990-2002
LANCE SCHACHTERLE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, 2002-
STEPHEN CARL ARCH, ASSOCIATE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
JAMES P. ELLIOTT, CHIEF TEXTUAL EDITOR
R. D. MADISON, TEXTUAL EDITOR
Sponsors
AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY
CLARK UNIVERSITY
WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
Advisory Committee
LANCE SCHACHTERLE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AND CHAIR
STEPHEN CARL ARCH, ASSOCIATE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
JAMES P. ELLIOTT, CHIEF TEXTUAL EDITOR
WAYNE FRANKLIN
THOMAS KNOLES
JOHN P. MCWILLIAMS
R. D. MADISON
LINN CAREY MEHTA
KEAT MURRAY
THOMAS PHILBRICK
ANNA SCANNAVINI
G. THOMAS TANSELLE
The Spy
A Tale of The Neutral Ground
James Fenimore Cooper
Historical Introduction by James P. Elliott Explanatory Notes by James H. Pickering Text Established by James P. Elliott, Lance Schachterle and Jeffrey Walker
“Breathes there a man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land.--”
Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel , VI. 1. 11. 1-3.
The Emblem of the Committee on Scholarly Editions indicates that this volume is based on an examination of all available relevant textual sources, that it is edited according to principles articulated in the volume, that the source texts and any deviation of the edited texts from them are fully described, that the editorial principles, the text, and the apparatus have undergone a peer review, that a rigorous schedule of verification and proofreading was followed to insure a high degree of accuracy in the presentation of the edition, and that the text is accompanied by appropriate textual and historical contextual information.
Cover art: “Scene from James Fenimore Cooper’s The Spy ,” 1823, by William Dunlap. Courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2019 State University of New York
© 2002, 2016 AMS Press, Inc.
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For more information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851 author. | Elliott, James Paul, 1945- writer of introduction | Pickering, James H., other.
Title: The spy : a tale of the neutral ground / James Fenimore Cooper ; historical introduction by James P. Elliott ; explanatory notes by James H. Pickering ; text established by James P. Elliott, Lance Schachterle, Jeffrey Walker.
Description: MLA scholarly edition. | Albany : SUNY Press, [2019] | Series: The writings of James Fenimore Cooper | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019037232 | ISBN 9781438478951 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781438478968 (paperback) | ISBN 9781438478975 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: New York (State)-History-Revolution, 1775-1783-Fiction. | United States–History–Revolution, 1775-1783-Fiction. | GSAFD: Historical fiction | War stories.
Classification: LCC PS1417 .S7 2019 | DDC 813/.3-dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019037232
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments
Historical Introduction
Illustrations
To James Aitchison [1821]
Preface [1821]
Preface to the Second Edition [1822]
To James Aitchison [1822]
Preface to the Third Edition [1822]
Introduction [1831]
Introduction [1849]
The Spy
Explanatory Notes
Textual Commentary
Textual Notes
Emendations
Rejected Readings
Word-Division

REVISED TEXT OF THE SPY: A TALE OF THE NEUTRAL GROUND IN “THE WRITINGS OF JAMES FENIMORE COOPER”

This SUNY Press edition of The Spy, originally published in hardcover by AMS Press in 2002 (edited by James P. Elliott, Lance Schachterle, and Jeffrey Walker), makes available in revised form for classroom and other purposes the only scholarly edition of Cooper’s ground-breaking depiction of “American Manners and American scenes.” Unlike other texts of Cooper’s first great novel, this edition includes the original scholarly apparatus to enable a thorough textual examination of the emendations Cooper made between the first edition of December 1821 and his final revised text of 1849. Cooper never revised an early text as thoroughly or as often as he did The Spy, as the following list of authorially-revised texts shows:
New York: Wiley Halsted second edition, March 1822
New York: Wiley Halsted, third edition, May 1822
London: Colburn Bentley, “Author’s Revised Edition,” 1831, for which the editors used the author’s manuscript of his revisions
New York: Putnam, 1849.
The present edition incorporates all variants between the first edition and that of 1849 which the present editors believe are Cooper’s. And it rejects all variants the editors regard as non-authorial.
Professor Elliott has updated his Historical Introduction, and Professors Stephen Carl Arch, Keat Murray, Jeffrey Walker and I have read the text through looking for errors, and incorporated here several corrections of the 2002 printing. Those corrections affecting words are listed below with reference to the page and line numbers of both the 2002 AMS text and of this revised SUNY edition. We have also corrected a few errors in pagination and formatting of variant entries, but these are not recorded in the Errata list below.
Professor Steven P. Harthorn has identified the obscure sources for the epigraphs for Chapters XIX and XXIII; see the James Fenimore Cooper Society website at external. oneonta.edu/cooper under epigraphs for details. The present editors agree with the evidence on that site that the author of the “Duo” epigraphs in The Spy and elsewhere is most likely Cooper himself.
Lance Schachterle, WPI, Editor-in-Chief of “The Writings of James Fenimore Cooper”
ERRATA LIST 77.9 The 2002 reading “viligant” is corrected to “vigilant” 156.5 The 2002 reading “wilfully reflecting” is corrected to “wilfully rejecting” 198.14 The 2002 reading “is was” is corrected to “it was” 201.5 The 2002 reading “the place were Frances” is corrected to “the place where Frances” 224.1 The new paragraph beginning “Certain—you know Arnold” is now indented 349.7 The 2002 reading “Great pains had been taking in” is corrected to “Great pains had been taken in”
Acknowledgments

The primary acknowledgment for the preparation of the present edition of The Spy is to the late James Franklin Beard (1919-89) for whom editing this novel was a particularly significant project. He gave more than usual attention to the long process of establishing the text, and he intended to write the Historical Introduction. The present editors have been graciously provided with all the materials he gathered for that Introduction, including fragmentary drafts, notes, and unpublished documents relating to the publication and reception of the novel. The long-awaited appearance of this authoritative edition of The Spy, then, is due in large part to his energy and enthusiasm, and the finished project accordingly is dedicated to his memory.
Because of the length and complexity of the establishment and verification of the text of The Spy, the list of those who have at one time or another contributed to its preparation is long. At Clark University, Professor Elliott wishes to acknowledge the most important participants: Helen Taylor, Jan Johnson Smith, Karin Holtz, C. Margot Hennessy, Gareth Evans, Christopher Cartwright, and Sarah Marden.
At WPI, Professor Schachterle acknowledges with gratitude the contributions of the following work-study students: Elizabeth Mendez, Joan Landry, and Patricia Bray. WPI undergraduates also assisted with the preparation of computer texts for this edition: Chad Braley, David Coutu, Heather Mazzaccaro, Brian Whitman, and David Markle. Others at WPI who have contributed to this edition include Mary Kelley, Melissa Schachterle, and Holmes Wilson. Sia Najafi designed all the printing programs for this edition and advised on numerous computer issues; without his help this edition could not have been prepared electronically.
At Oklahoma State University, Professor Walker wishes to thank an army of dedicated editorial assistants for their invaluable help over the years in preparing the final state of the text. Paul Bowers, Libby Stott, Pamela Shapiro, Charla Cook, Shawn Crawford, and Andrea Frankwitz worked assiduously in the early collation of the various states of the text, reading editions against each other to establish an accurate text. Three editorial assistants, however, bore the brunt of the task to help prepare the final state of the text. Christopher Malone, more than once, read the entire text, comma-by-comma, word-by-word, and line-by-line, locating all the different or potentially different authorial forms of the text and checking their accuracy. Jill Patterson read Cooper’s script to insure Cooper’s holograph revisions to the Bentley edition were correctly transcribed. Philip Heldrich proofread with great care.
All three editors thank Professor David J. Nordloh, Indiana University, for his advice over more than a decade in preparing this text and in guiding the editors through the Comm