Cooper was a very uneven writer, careless, and indifferent about artistic effects. He was often diffuse and often commonplace, and he had not much skill in drawing portraits of men and women; but he could tell a story rapidly and dramatically. He knew how to keep his readers in suspense, and he knew nature, both on land and at sea.
SUPPLEMENTARY READING
| INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LITERATURE | By Henry S. Pancoast |
| BRIEF HISTORY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE | By W. P. Trent |
| An excellent treatment of the subject in brief. | |
| A STUDY OF PROSE FICTION | By Bliss Perry |
| A scholarly work by a distinguished critical writer. | |
| ASPECTS OF FICTION | By Brander Matthews |
| An informing and also a charming literary study by a recognized authority. | |
| LITERARY HISTORY OF AMERICA | By Prof. Barrett Wendell |
| HISTORY OF LITERATURE IN AMERICA | By Prof. Barrett Wendell and C. N. Greenough |
| A condensed survey of the subject. | |
| MATERIALS AND METHODS OF FICTION | By Clayton Hamilton |
| A simple, interesting, practical book. | |
| AMERICAN LANDS AND LETTERS | By Donald G. Mitchell (Ik Marvel) |
| A most attractive work, valuable in its informing qualities, and written in most delightful style by the author of “Reveries of a Bachelor.” |
THE OPEN LETTER
Why The Mentor? What’s in the name? We might have chosen any one of fifty names beside The Mentor. We had a list of fully 100 names before we made our selection. And the material that we have supplied under the name of “Mentor” would have served its purpose as well under another name. But we chose our name very carefully. There’s a reason for “Mentor.” And yet, although we are now a little over three years old and number nearly 100,000 in membership, no one has asked the reason—at least until a few weeks ago. Then one of our earliest members put the question, “What or who is The Mentor?” The question was slow in coming, but I am glad it is here, because the answer is worth while.
Mentor was a very worthy individual of ancient Greece. You can read about him in Homer’s “Odyssey.” He was the son of Alcimus and the faithful friend of Ulysses (Odysseus). When Ulysses set forth on his long wanderings, he consigned his household and his family, including his son Telemachus to the care of his friend Mentor. So faithful was Mentor in his attention to Telemachus and so serviceable to him in precept and example that his name has now come to be used in the sense of a wise and trustworthy advisor—“a wise and faithful guide and friend” as a modern dictionary phrases it.