The Last of the Mohicans ou l'incarnat de la nation
The Last of the Mohicans defines the colour red as an embattled imaginary site for negotiating political and aesthetic claims. While devising narrative tactics which eradicate the “Red Skins” from the national landscape, this “Narrative of 1757” fantasizes in retrospect the advent of an all-white n...
Gorde:
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| Formatua: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Hizkuntza: | Français |
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2005
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| Sarrera elektronikoa: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Gaia: | The Last of the Mohicans defines the colour red as an embattled imaginary site for negotiating political and aesthetic claims. While devising narrative tactics which eradicate the “Red Skins” from the national landscape, this “Narrative of 1757” fantasizes in retrospect the advent of an all-white nation that could yet declare the legacy of the colour red as the mark of its indigenous character. Aesthetically, the novel pursues contradictory aims: if the colour red is foregrounded as the sign of the new nation’s vitality, it must nevertheless be subdued, as it conjures up the genocidal violence unleashed by territorial conquest. This study suggests how the romance exposes the myth of a “substantial” colour as an ideological construct supporting the dream of a “natural” nation. It then argues that in scenes of cross-dressing and face painting, Cooper’s text, exploring the use of the colour as cosmetics, also becomes the vehicle of metamorphic shapes which defeat the plot’s monochromatic scheme. |
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