Cozzens, James Gould

Cozzens, James Gould

(1903–78) writer; born in Chicago. He was first published in Atlantic Monthly at age 16; his first novel appeared in 1924. Often promoting socially conservative views, his novels focused on the world of male professionals; his best-known works are carefully crafted character studies such as Guard of Honor (1948, Pulitzer Prize) and By Love Possessed (1957). Although his popularity peaked in the 1950s, he continued to publish into the late 1960s.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Cozzens, James Gould

 

Born Aug. 19, 1903, in Chicago. American author.

The heroes of Cozzens’ first novels, Confusion (1924) and Michael Scarlett (1925), are rebels defeated by the bourgeois world. The novel Cockpit (1928) describes an individualist who defends his rights with wolflike tenacity. Cozzens’ most successful novels are Guard of Honor (1948) and By Love Possessed (1957). The former describes the events of World War II (1939–45).

WORKS

Children and Others. New York, 1964.
Morning, Noon, and Night. New York, 1968.

REFERENCES

Bracher, F. The Novels of James Gould Cozzens. New York, 1959.
Maxwell, D. E. S. Cozzens. Edinburgh-London, 1964.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.