The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in 1840. It is the fourth novel Cooper wrote featuring Natty Bumppo, his fictitious frontier hero, and the third chronological episode of the "Leatherstocking Tales". The inland sea of the title is Lake Ontario. "The Pathfinder" was written 13 years after Natty Bumppo had ended his career in "The Prairie". Cooper had questioned the wisdom of reviving this hero, and he was at the time engaged in fierce litigations with newspapers. The adventures of the plot on the
The Canterbury Tales Introducing a competition among the tales encourages the reader to compare the tales in all their variety, and allows Chaucer to showcase the breadth of his skill in different genres and literary forms. While the structure of the "Tales" is largely linear, with one story following another, it is also much more than that. In the "General Prologue", Chaucer describes not the tales to be told, but the people who will tell them, making it clear that structure will depend on the characters rather than a general theme or moral. This idea is reinforced when the Miller interrupts to tell