This article is about the 1830 novel. For other uses, see Waterwitch.
The Water-Witch is an 1830 novel by James Fenimore Cooper. Set in 17th-century New York and the surrounding sea, the novel depicts the abduction of a woman, Alida de Barbérie, by the pirate captain of the brigantineWater-Witch, and the subsequent pursuit of that elusive ship by her suitor, Captain Ludlow.[1][2]
Cooper wrote the novel while on an extended tour of Europe, during his stay in the villa Palazzu detta del Tasso near Naples.[1] Cooper tried to print the novel while he was in Italy in 1829 but Papal censors forbade its publication there.[1] He was eventually able to print the novel in Dresden before also sending copies to his publishers in the US and England.[1] Critic Allan Axelrad describes the novel as heavily influenced by the Italian context of its writing, noting that it even compares the landscapes of New York with that of Italy.[3]
^Axelrad, Allan M. (July 1993). James D. Wallace (ed.). Epiphany at Ischia: The Effect of Italy on James Fenimore Cooper's Literary Landscape Painting. 9th Cooper Seminar, James Fenimore Cooper: His Country and His Art. State University of New York College at Oneonta. pp. 1–27.