Talk:The Prairie

This article is in process of being written and formulated.--Drboisclair 04:12, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Relevance to Virginia Tech massacre

Some media outlets have highlighted a character in this book as possibly being the inspiration for shooter Cho Seung-hui having the phrase "Ismail Axe" written on his arm. [1]

In one, tied to James Fenimore Cooper's novel "The Prairie," Ishmael Bush is known as an outcast and outlawed warrior, according to an essay written in 1969 by William H. Goetzmann, a University of Texas History professor. In Cooper's book, "Bush carries the prime symbol of evil - the spoiler's axe," the professor wrote.

Seeing as Cho was a literature major, this could be relevant. Perhaps editors familiar with this book could expand its article in case the link is found to be solid? Italiavivi 15:24, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

To be clear, I am simply asking that the book's plot and characters be expounded upon. I am not asking for a pre-emptive tying of the VA Tech massacre to this book. Italiavivi 15:24, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

This would be a fitting entry in the section that would cover the modern view of the book. The brother-in-law of Ishmael Bush is a character named Abiram, who is the villain of the story. Here is the summary from the Cooper Society's website[2]. It is also ironic that the University of Virginia has a great online collection of jpeg's of first editions of Cooper's works[3]--Drboisclair 16:08, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:The Prairie book cover.jpg

Image:The Prairie book cover.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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BetacommandBot 23:54, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

This problem has been solved.--Drboisclair 12:59, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Textual Errors Section, Trapper's Age

It's been several years since I read the book, but I remember the difference in ages having to do with the trapper being so old, having been brought up by Indians, and living in the wilderness where things like Calendar years really aren't important, to not really knowing how old he is exactly. Of course, that may be just how my mind tried to "fix" the discrepancy, rather than a deliberate inclusion by Cooper. Any thoughts?Mmyers1976 (talk) 22:04, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

That was blatant OR, without any source that discusses the issue, I deleted it because it is largely useless in the context of an Encyclopedia. Sadads (talk) 22:21, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Good call, I didn't think it was a very appropriate section for the article, glad to see it gone.Mmyers1976 (talk) 15:24, 24 September 2010 (UTC)

The section was also incorrectly titled as "Textual Errors" when "inconsistencies" or "idiosyncrasies" might have been more accurate. The editor would have had to provide a source that critiqued Cooper like Mark Twain. As it was, it was OR.--Drboisclair (talk) 05:26, 25 September 2010 (UTC)