Ceisy Nita Wuntu — James Fenimore Cooper and the Idea of Environmental Conservation in the Leatherstocking Tales (1823-1841) JAMES FENIMORE COOPER AND THE IDEA OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION IN THE LEATHERSTOCKING TALES (1823-1841) Ceisy Nita Wuntu IKIP Negeri Manado c_wuntu@yahoo.com Abstract The spirit to respect the rights of all living environment in literature that was found in the 1970s in William Rueckert’s works was considered as the emergence of the new criticism in literature, ecocriticism, which brought the efforts to trace the spirit in works of literature. Works arose after the 1840s written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Margareth Fuller, the American transcendentalists, are considered to be the first works presenting the respect for the living environment as claimed by Peter Barry. James Fenimore Cooper’s reputation in American literary history appeared because of his role in leading American literature into its identity. Among his works, The Leatherstocking Tales mostly attracted European readers’ attention when he successfully applied American issues. The major issue in the work is the spirit of the immigrants to dominate flora, fauna and human beings as was experienced by the indigenous people. Applying ecocriticism theory in doing the analysis, it has been found that Cooper’s works particularly his The Leatherstocking Tales (1823-1841) present Cooper’s great concern for the sustainable life. He shows that compassion, respect, wisdom, and justice are the essential aspects in preserving nature that meet the main concern of ecocriticism and hence the works that preceded the transcendentalists’ work places themselves as the embryo of ecocriticism in America. Keywords: Ecocriticism, James Fenimore Cooper, The Leatherstocking Tales, living environment, sustainable life Introduction The understanding of a literary work is usually related to the text, the writer, and the world (Glotfelty and Fromm, 1996, p. xix). Some materials on the environment are detected in The Leatherstocking Tales by James Fenimore Cooper, which are inseparable from the term ‘the world’ that precipitates the emergence of Cooper's attention to the environment. An in-depth analysis of the environment in a literary work is a part of the ‘Ecocriticism.’ Critics of the environment understand the world as an entire ecosphere that is broader in terms of scope than to understand the concept of the world which is commonly understood as social sphere (Glotfelty and Fromm, 1996, p. xix). It can be said that The Leatherstocking Tales appears from the impulse of the entire ecosphere. The spirit of exploitation to dominate the American plains that control every action was the spirit that was around Cooper when he was completing his work. Environmental Conservation ideas contained in these works were written in the early 19th century in a contemporary perspective regarding the current global environmental crisis, which underlines the role and ability of Cooper in raising the prestige of American literature, which is the focus of discussion in this work. 25