SOURCE: "How the Western Ends: Fenimore Cooper to Frederic Remington," in Western American Literature, Vol. XVII, No. 2, Summer, 1982, pp. 117-35.

In the following essay, Bold analyzes Remington's Sundown Leflare, John Ermine of the Yellowstone, and The Way of an Indian as they build upon the narrative tradition of James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales.

Come back—do the 4 volume novel about a South Western Natty Bumpo [sic]—Believe me, I know.

Remington to Wister, Dec. 1899¹

When Frederic Remington gave that advice to his defecting colleague, he did not acknowledge that he had already produced his own version of the Leatherstocking Tales. During 1897 and 1898, he had been writing the five short stories about Sundown that were collected in 1899 as Sundown Leflare.² That volume has a cyclical form and a central theme which are reminiscent of the Leatherstocking series' design. Its tone is different, however: the main figure remains more comical...