""An Autobiography of a Pocket Handkerchief"" is a unique and entertaining novel written by James Fenimore Cooper. The book is narrated from the perspective of a pocket handkerchief, which tells the story of its life journey from being made in a factory to being used by different owners. The handkerchief is passed on from person to person, each with their own unique story and experiences. Throughout the book, the handkerchief becomes a witness to important historical events, such as the French Revolution and the Napoleonic ...
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""An Autobiography of a Pocket Handkerchief"" is a unique and entertaining novel written by James Fenimore Cooper. The book is narrated from the perspective of a pocket handkerchief, which tells the story of its life journey from being made in a factory to being used by different owners. The handkerchief is passed on from person to person, each with their own unique story and experiences. Throughout the book, the handkerchief becomes a witness to important historical events, such as the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. The novel is a satirical commentary on the social norms and customs of the time, as seen through the eyes of an inanimate object. With its clever storytelling and witty humor, ""An Autobiography of a Pocket Handkerchief"" is a must-read for anyone looking for a unique and entertaining literary experience.""Well!"" exclaimed $25, ""this is the first ball I have been at that I was not thought good enough to have a place in the quadrille. You see all the canaille are in the hands of their owners, while we, the elite of pocket- handkerchiefs, are left here in a corner, like so many cloaks.""This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
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Objects Can Observe This book will change your mind if you?ve ever doubted that inanimate objects can observe and voice opinions about persons and society. In this novel the handkerchief is a sentient female object that recounts her life among humans, offering witty, astute observations of both French and American societies of the early 19th century. The handkerchief?s life begins in a Normandy flax field, though her ancestors had grown along the Connecticut River and emigrated to the Old World. She describes being harvested and woven into an exceptionally expensive, aristocratic linen handkerchief. As Cooper put it, the aristocracy at that moment ?had a bad odor? in Paris and the handkerchief flounders for quite a while. Eventually she?s bought by an impoverished young woman of the nobility. The young woman, Adrienne, fending for herself, uses her last sous to buy the handkerchief. She works and works, indeed, she toils, creating luxurious lace around the linen. Her plan is to resell it, thus saving herself and her dying grandmother from destitution. Sadly, Adrienne is cheated and receives only a pittance for her toil. The handkerchief, now more exquisite than ever, is eventually sold to an American who takes her to New York where she?s the most expensive handkerchief that fashionable New York society had ever seen. Her observations of New York, the land of liberty, are hilarious. The American nouveaux rich is preoccupied with ostentatious consumption and this linen square is bought and sold for ridiculously showy sums. She becomes a one hundred dollar ?super-extraordinary? handkerchief. Alas, fortunes go bust and the handkerchief, unexpectedly and happily, finds herself back with Adrienne who had left Paris for a position as French governess in New York. I loved this book and wonder how I missed it years ago as an English major in college. I also wonder which 21st century object is observing the foibles and hypocrisies of contemporary society. Whatever it is, can it possibly have the same eloquent and critical insight of the by-gone cloth handkerchief?