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James Fenimore Cooper was a 19th century writer known for his historical romances and stories about the sea. At 17 he left his home in New York to become a merchant seaman. Warfare on the sea and romance fill the pages of The Wing and Wing. Admiral Caraccioli is about to be executed on Lord Nelson's flagship, when Raoul Yvard and his men begin to harass the British fleet. Yward who is in love with Caraccioli's daughter escapes and fights a battle at sea.

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Customer Reviews (5)

Victorian naval fiction
Perhaps not as well known as The Pilot (1824), James Fenimore Cooper's fictional account of John Paul Jones's adventures, The Wing-and-Wing (1842) is closer to the late Twentieth Century notion of "mainstream" historic naval fiction. Set in the Mediterranean in the months following Nelson's victory at the Nile, The Wing-and-Wing is the story of a bold captain and his plucky crew prevailing over great odds by superior strategy, seamanship and gunnery. All familiar territory to the contemporary reader of HNF, but Cooper's story has a twist. The hero is French. Raoul Yvart is the dashing captain of Le Feu-Follet, a lugger-rigged French privateer cruising Italy's west coast. Since the Tyrrhenian Sea is more or less a British lake at this time, with Nelson firmly established in Naples, Yvart needs to draw on all his considerable resources to succeed. He loves Ghita, a beautiful and pious daughter of Tuscany, who loves him as well, but can't reconcile her Catholicism with Yvart's skeptical anti-clericalism. Pursuing his love and pursued by the Royal Navy, Raoul makes Le Feu-Follet (in English, will-o-the-wisp) live up to her name.

The action and ship-handling passages are well done and compelling -- after all, Cooper served in both merchant ships and the U.S. Navy, and spent considerable time in Italy. There are some interesting windows on actual history, notably the execution of Admiral Caracciolo, which Cooper considered ignominious and blamed on the pernicious influence of Emma Hamilton on the noble Nelson. For all that, a great deal of the charm of the novel is in the humor. A few secondary characters consistently make the reader smile as Cooper paints broad caricatures of Italians, French, English and Scots. (The only American, Ithuel Bolt, may be the book's most complex character, combining courage and righteousness with bitterness and greedy self-interest.) Much of the fun is language-based as the English, French and Italians mangle each others' language. We also enjoy parodies of legal wrangling and philosophical discourse. Surely there is no other action novel in which the epistemology of George Berkeley plays a crucial role in advancing the plot!

If you don't have your Victorian prose mojo going, don't pick up this book. Cooper is wordy in a way that forces the reader to slow down and savor the language. Readers looking for a plot-driven "page turner" may chafe at the pace, but patience will be rewarded. Unlike many action novels that are fun to read, but fade from mind, Cooper's plot, characters and descriptions linger in the imagination. Some time after finishing the book, I find myself returning to reconsider some personage or event. A wine drinker might say that The Wing-and-Wing has a long finish.

The Henry Holt "Heart of Oak Sea Classics" edition features Jeffrey Ward's maps -- very useful to the reader -- and Thomas Philbrick's instructive introduction.

Interesting romance, hearty sea adventure
Based on a true incident, this novel is set along the coast of Italy during the age of Napolean. The Wing-and-Wing is a ship preying on British ships, captained by Raoul Yverne. He's in love with Ghita Caraccioli, a devout Catholic who refuses to marry him because he is an atheist. When Ghita's grandfather is sentenced to be executed by Lord Nelson, Ghita and Raoul (disguised) visit him hoping to bring about his escape. The plot is foiled, Raoul makes it to his ship and gets away, only to be persued by the British until he's trapped and killed. Cooper creates some of his most interesting characters in this romance of the sea. Raoul is a complicated man: he will not yield to Ghita regarding his atheistic beliefs, yet he is an honorable, heroic figure based on what he does throughout the story; he will not compromise his principles. The romance between Ghita and Raoul is interesting and powerful, not always the case in Cooper's novels. The impressed American seaman named Bolt, or "The Yankee," is also a well-drawn character; his hatred for the British and his devil-may-care attitude are delightful. Finally, the chapters set at sea, especially where Raoul is able to out-maneuver and out-sail the British, show Cooper writing at his best. It's no wonder the editors chose this novel as part of the Heart of Oak Sea Classics series.

A romantic tragedy
This novel was first published in 1842, and various editions are available.While the author is noted more for other novels, he started his career at sea, sailing as a merchant seaman for two years from 1806 to 1807, then becoming a midshipman in the United States Navy, serving for two years before resigning his commission to stay on land.He maintained his interest in the sea and is credited with writing the first sea novels.He lived in Italy from 1828 to 1829, primarily in Naples, but visiting Elba and other areas.He was intimately familiar with the actions and settings used in the novel, which is set in 1799 in and around the Bay of Naples, the Isle of Capri, and Elba.

The title of the novel is explained in the first chapter when a suspiciou lugger is seen approaching Elba, "the spread of her canvas, as she came down before the wind, wing-and-wing, as seamen term it, or with a sail fanning like the heavy pinions of a seafowl, on each side..."When the lugger arrives at Elba, it displays and English flag, and the Captain identifies himself as Jack Smith and the lugger as the Wing-and-Wing.In actual fact, the captain is Raoul Yvard and the lugger is the French corsair Feu-Follet.Raoul has come to Elba to meet Ghita, the woman he loves.

The story proceeds as the Feu-Follet plays a game of cat-and-mouse with the British frigate Proserpine commanded by Captain Cuffe.Part of the story is the action between the Feu-Follet and the British, and part of the story is the relationship between Raoul and Ghita.There is a large cast of characters involved.

The story is slow reading, as Cooper was very descriptive of both the settings and the events, and included long conversations between the characters.It is worth reading both as classic literature (one of the first sea novels) and to obtain another side of Cooper's novels.

Don'tbe afraid of Cooper
I'm glad that I read the book before looking at an earlier reviewer's description of "long winded and laborious", or I may have skipped it.It is indeed a little "slow" in the first third or so, especially if your point of reference is a Marryat novel that would have had four battles fought by that point.I found it engaging,more and more as the work progressed, and overall an excelent read.Refreshing that the hero, his enemy, and several others are not simplistically all good or all bad as so often we find in these sea tales.As well, refreshing to learn a bit of the French privateer's p.o.v.

Rough Sailing
In addition to the Patrick O'Brian series, I have read several of the Heary-of-Oak series nautical fiction novels and all have been excellent. This one, however, falls short and the nautical fiction fan may grow wearyof Cooper's long winded laborious style of writing. I have to admit, Icouldn't get through the entire book but admit the author to be a talentedwriter. Nevertheless, I think the purist nautical fiction fan may prefer aless pretentious style of writinga laForester,Marrayat, James Nelsonor Richard Woodman. ... Read more

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General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1859Original Publisher: W. A. TownsendSubjects: Boston (Mass.)BostonFiction / ClassicsFiction / HistoricalFiction / LiteraryHistory / United States / State ... Read more

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Volume: 2Publisher: New York : C. WileySubjects: Boston (Mass.) -- History Revolution, 1775-1783 FictionNotes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1840Original Publisher: Lea ... Read more

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General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1840Original Publisher: Printed for the booksellersSubjects: Boston (Mass.)Fiction / ClassicsFiction / HistoricalFiction / LiteraryHistory / United States / State ... Read more