The Deerslayer The Deerslayer The Deerslayer, or The First War-path (1841) was the last of James Fenimore Cooper's "Leatherstocking Tales" to be written. Its 1740-1745 time period makes it the first installment chronologically and in the lifetime of the hero of the Leatherstocking tales, Natty Bumppo. The novel's setting on Otsego Lake in central, upstate New York, is the same as that of "The Pioneers", the first of the "Leatherstocking Tales" to be published (1823). "The Deerslayer" is considered to be the prequel to the rest of the series. Fenimore Cooper begins his work by relating the astonishing advance of civilization in
The Canterbury Tales Chaucer was a courtier, leading some to believe that he was mainly a court poet who wrote exclusively for nobility. "The Canterbury Tales" is generally thought to have been incomplete at the end of Chaucer's life. In the General Prologue, some 30 pilgrims are introduced. According to the Prologue, Chaucer's intention was to write four stories from the perspective of each pilgrim, two each on the way to and from their ultimate destination, St. Thomas Becket's shrine (making for a total of about 120 stories). Although perhaps incomplete, "The Canterbury Tales" is revered as one of the most important works