The Sea Lions

The Sea Lions; Or, The Lost Sealers is an 1849 sea novel by James Fenimore Cooper. The plot revolves around two sealers stranded in the Antarctic ice.[1] The novel was first published in two volumes, by Stringer & Townsend.[2] Critic W.B. Gates described the novel as taking inspiration from Charles Wilkes's Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition of the Years 1838-1842.[3]

The Sea Lions; Or, The Lost Sealers
Title page of 1856 edition
AuthorJames Fenimore Cooper
Genresea novel
PublisherStringer & Townsend (in two volumes)
Publication date
1849

Herman Melville reviewed the novel in 1849 for the magazine The Literary World.[2] Melville's praise for the novel focuses on the action and adventure of the novel, saying, "Upon the whole, we warmly recommend the Sea Lions; and even those who more for fashion’s sake than anything else, have of late joined in decrying our national novelist, will in this last work, perhaps, recognise one of his happiest."[2]

Fragment of The Sea Lions manuscript (1848)[4]

References
  1. MacDougall, Hugh C. (April 26, 1997). James Fenimore Cooper and the Sea. Naval Enlisted Reserve Association. Otesaga Hotel, Cooperstown, New York – via James Fenimore Cooper Society.
  2. Melville, Herman (April 28, 1849). "Cooper's New Novel". The Literary World. 4: 370 – via Melvilliana.
  3. Gates, W. B. (December 1950). "Cooper's the Sea Lions and Wilkes' Narrative". PMLA. Modern Language Association. 65 (6): 1069–1075. doi:10.2307/459720. JSTOR 459720.
  4. "Fragment of Cooper's manuscript,The Sea Lions". americanantiquarian.org. 1849. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  • The Sea Lions at Project Gutenberg
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