SOURCE: "1850-1851," in James Fenimore Cooper, Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1883, pp. 265-89.

In the following excerpt, Lounsbury assesses the positive and negative characteristics of Cooper's writing.

More than sixty years have gone by since Cooper began to write; more than thirty since he ceased to live. If his reputation has not advanced during the period that has passed since his death, it has certainly not receded. Nor does it seem likely to undergo much change in the future. The world has pretty well made up its mind as to the value of his work. The estimate in which it is held will not be materially raised or lowered by anything which criticism can now utter. This will itself be criticised for being too obvious; for it can do little but repeat, with variation of phrase, what has been constantly said and often better said before. There is, however...