The Spy (Cooper)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''The Spy: a Tale of the Neutral Ground'' is a novel by the American writer
James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonial and indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...
. His second novel, it was published in 1821 by Wiley & Halsted. The plot is set during the
American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
and was inspired in part by the family friend
John Jay John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...
. ''The Spy'' was successful and began Cooper's reputation as a popular and important American writer.


Plot

The action takes place during the
American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
, at "The Locusts", which was the name given to a Colonial-style home in Scarsdale, New York, that was built in 1787 by American Major William Popham, an officer who served on the staff of generals George Clinton and George Washington and who served as the 7th President-General of the
Society of Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of military officers who ...
, the oldest patriotic organization in the United States. The plot ranges back and forth over the neutral ground between the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
and the Continental armies as the home stands between those lines. An unknown man, known as Mr. Harper, asks for shelter at The Locusts amidst a storm. Mr. Wharton (a
Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...
, his daughters Sarah and Frances, and sister-in-law Miss Peyton, agree to admit him into their home. They are suspicious of him and are cautious in discussing the revolution in his presence. Soon, a peddler named Harvey Birch comes along, with an unknown man, also seeking shelter. Harper eyes him carefully. The stranger is really Henry Wharton, a British army captain. Harper leaves the family, but not before revealing he was already aware of the true identity of Captain Wharton. Birch, who has met privately with Mr. Harper for unknown reasons, strongly urges Captain Wharton to return to his post. A group of American troops investigates the home of Birch, before making their way to The Locusts. There, Major Peyton Dunwoodie is confronted by Frances Wharton, who loves him and sympathizes with the Patriot cause. She pleads with him not to arrest or harm her brother, Captain Wharton, but Dunwoodie feels his duty too strongly. He learns that Captain Wharton has disguised himself and used a letter forged with
George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
's signature to avoid being found. Dunwoodie realizes that Washington's signature is authentic, however, but the Captain cannot explain how he procured it. Dunwoodie arrests Captain Wharton but learns that British troops are in the area. Dunwoodie rushes to assist his fellow colonists, allowing Captain Wharton to escape in the confusion. Captain Wharton tells his commanding officer, Colonel Wellmere, to be on the lookout of Dunwoodie and his troops. Wellmere does not take his advice and skirmish ensues; he is injured and Captain Wharton is recaptured by Captain Lawton. As Wellmere's troops make their retreat, Dunwoodie brings his friend Captain Singleton to The Locusts to be cared for by Dr. Sitgreaves. Frances suggests summoning Singleton's sister to assist. Harvey Birch comes under suspicion for being a British spy although he is really a Patriot. Harper is revealed to be Washington in disguise with whom Birch has other meetings in the course of the book. Birch's role is revealed only after he falls in battle.


Characters


Wharton family

*Captain Henry Wharton – British officer, Wharton’s son *Sarah Wharton – Daughter of Wharton, lover and wife of Colonel Wellmere *Frances Wharton – Daughter of Wharton, sister of Sarah and Henry Wharton, lover of Major Peyton Dunwoodie *Mr. Wharton – Father of Henry, Sarah, and Frances *Miss Jeanette Peyton – Virginia-born aunt and governess to the girls, since the death of their mother *Ceasar Thomson –a slave from Wharton household


Other characters

*George Washington – Clad in
mufti A mufti (; , ) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion ('' fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatāwa'' have played an important role thro ...
and using the name Mr. Harper *Harvey Birch – A Yankee pack peddler, he is really a spy and counter spy in the service of George Washington *Katy Haynes – Faithful but greedy housekeeper to Harvey Birch, and would-be wife *Johnny Birch – Father of Harvey Birch *Major Peyton Dunwoodie – Commanding officer of the Virginia dragoons and secretly engaged to Frances Wharton *Colonel Wellmere – He, too, leads British royalists and tries to marry Sarah Wharton, although he is already secretly married to another woman in England *Captain John Lawton – Officer of Virginia dragoons and a friend of Dunwoodie and Sitgreaves *Isabella Singleton – Sister of George Singleton, who comes to nurse her brother at "The Locust" but is also in love with Dunwoodie *Captain George Singleton – Officer of Virginia dragoons who is wounded in battle with Wellmere and the brother of Isabella Singleton *Dr. Archibald Sitgreaves – The comic and grotesque military surgeon *Anna Sitgreaves – Sister of Dr. Archibald Sitgreaves *Captain Wharton Dunwoodie – Son of Peyton and Frances Wharton *Tom Manson Jr – Lieutenant, Captain Wharton Dunwoodie’s friend


Historical accuracy

Harvey Birch, peddler and patriot, is a character remotely founded upon Enoch Crosby, a real spy who helped John Jay. The publisher H. L. Barnum stated that a gentleman of "good standing and respectability" and a personal friend of Cooper had claimed that the author himself told him of the inspiration. Barnum wrote of the connection in 1828 in his book ''The Spy Unmasked; or, Memoirs of Enoch Crosby, Alias Harvey Birch, The Hero of Mr. Cooper's Tale of the Neutral Ground: Being an Authentic Account of the Secret Services Which He Rendered to his Country During the Revolutionary War (Taken from His Own Lips, in Short-Hand)''. Cooper would again take up the subject of the American Revolution in his novel '' The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea'' (1823–4), also inspired by historical figures.


Composition

Cooper began writing ''The Spy'' as early as June 1820, shortly after publishing his book '' Precaution''. In a contemporary letter to
Samuel Griswold Goodrich Samuel Griswold Goodrich (August 19, 1793 – May 9, 1860), better known by his pseudonym Peter Parley, was an American author and politician who established the children's magazine ''Merry's Museum''. He was a Massachusetts Senate, Massachuse ...
, Cooper wrote he had "commenced another tale to be called the 'Spy'" with the "scene etin West-Chester County, and
t the T, or t, is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is d ...
time of the revolutionary war." The work-in-progress was inspired with persuasion from his wife, Susan, who Cooper referred to as his "female Mentor". Cooper's choice of subject was directly in response to critics of his first book, who wished he would write on more American subjects. Patriotism, Cooper vowed, would be his main theme.Darnell, Donald G. ''James Fenimore Cooper: Novelist of Manners''. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1993: 23. He anticipated that the book would be superior to his previous effort but admitted to Goodrich on July 12, 1820, that work on the book "goes on slowly" and it would not be finished until the fall.


Reception

The novel was successful, and its success came at a critical time in Cooper's life. He was straining to maintain his gentlemanly lifestyle after the collapse of his family fortune, and he wrote his first two novels to test the viability of income from authorship. The original print run of 1000 copies sold out in the first month, with at least 600 copies sold within a year, which earned him royalties of $4000. Years later, in 1831, Cooper gave credit for the book's success on the "love of country" among his American readers. '' The Literary World'' later reflected that the book was among the first to celebrate the United States in such a way: "Before 'The Spy' we believe there is scarcely to be found a book from an American pen, in which there is an attempt to delineate American character or scenery, or which selects the soil of the United States as the field of its story". A review in the ''
North American Review The ''North American Review'' (''NAR'') was the first literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale (journalist), Nathan Hale and others. It was published continuously until 1940, after which i ...
'' noted the book "laid the foundations of American romance". The book's central character, Harvey Birch, prefigures many of the qualities that Cooper would use in his more famous character,
Natty Bumppo Nathaniel "Natty" Bumppo is a fictional character and the protagonist of James Fenimore Cooper's pentalogy of novels known as the ''Leatherstocking Tales''. He appears throughout the series as an archetypal American ranger, and has been portrayed ...
, who stars in Cooper's series of books known as ''
Leatherstocking Tales The ''Leatherstocking Tales'' is a series of five novels ('' The Deerslayer'', ''The Last of the Mohicans'', '' The Pathfinder'', '' The Pioneers'', and '' The Prairie'') by American writer James Fenimore Cooper, set in the eighteenth-centur ...
''. Birch is an adventurer who resists marrying and traditional society to withdraw into his own natural, moral world. ''The Spy'' was a direct influence on
John Neal John Neal (August 25, 1793 – June 20, 1876) was an American writer, critic, editor, lecturer, and activist. Considered both eccentric and influential, he delivered speeches and published essays, novels, poems, and short stories between the 1 ...
, who published his own Revolutionary War
historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the Setting (narrative), setting of particular real past events, historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literatur ...
novel, '' Seventy-Six'', two years later in 1823 after he had received the requested feedback on the manuscript from Cooper. Neal's novel provided a stark contrast to Cooper's work in its use of American colloquial language, profanity, and conversational narration and earned him a reputation as Cooper's chief rival as leading American author. Neal in ''
American Writers The Lists of American writers include: United States By ethnicity *List of African-American writers *List of Asian American writers, List of Asian-American writers *List of Cuban American writers, List of Cuban-American writers *List of Egypti ...
'' (1824–25) declared ''The Spy'' America's most popular novel, but critiqued it as "rather too full of stage-tricks and clap-traps. The disguises; the pathos; the love-parts; the heroines—are all contemptible."


Adaptations

Two operatic adaptations of the novel exist. ''La spia, overro, Il merciaiuolo americano'', by to a libretto by
Felice Romani Giuseppe Felice Romani (31 January 178828 January 1865) was an Italian poet and scholar of literature and mythology who wrote many librettos for the opera composers Donizetti and Bellini. Romani was considered the finest Italian librettist betw ...
, premiered in
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
at the Teatro Sutera in 1849. The other, by
Luigi Arditi Luigi Arditi (16 July 1822 – 1 May 1903) was an Italian violinist, composer and conductor. Life Arditi was born in Crescentino, Piemonte, Kingdom of Sardinia. He began his musical career as a violinist, and studied music at the Milan Cons ...
to a libretto by Filippo Manetta, premiered in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
at the Academy of Music on March 24, 1856.


References

*


External links

* *
The Spy
', "Plots and Characters in the Fiction of James Fenimore Cooper", at the James Fenimore Cooper Society {{DEFAULTSORT:Spy, The 1821 American novels Novels set in New York (state) Novels set during the American Revolutionary War Cultural depictions of George Washington American novels adapted into films Spy novels adapted into films American novels adapted into operas Novels by James Fenimore Cooper