James Gould Cozzens (August 19, 1903 – August 9, 1978) was an American writer who won a Pulitzer Prize and was widely read and praised for more than 30 years. His 1949 Pulitzer Prize was for the novel Guard of Honor, a book about World War II that many critics called one of the most important stories about the war. In 1957, his novel By Love Possessed was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and later became a popular movie in 1961.

Some critics who preferred traditional values praised By Love Possessed, and a 1957 interview Cozzens gave to Time magazine caused strong criticism from writer Irving Howe in The New Republic and critic Dwight Macdonald in Commentary. Macdonald’s essay is still considered one of the most powerful reviews of the 20th century more than 50 years later. This criticism, which also targeted critics who focused on mainstream tastes rather than more complex ideas, hurt Cozzens’ reputation during his lifetime and after he died.

In recent years, some people have tried to restore Cozzens’ place in literary history. D.G. Myers called him “perhaps America’s best forgotten novelist.” Writer Joseph Epstein also praised Cozzens in an essay for Commentary magazine and in a chapter of his book Plausible Prejudices. Biographer and academic Matthew J. Bruccoli helped these efforts with a biography and other scholarly work. Recently, there has been interest in adapting Cozzens’ work for film. In 2018, the Hollywood Reporter reported that the rights to a screenplay called Castaway, based on one of Cozzens’ short stories, were purchased by a film producer.

Writing

Cozzens published his first novel, Confusion, in 1924 while he was still a student at Harvard University. A few months later, he became very sick and had financial problems, so he left school and moved to New Brunswick, New Jersey. There, he wrote his second novel, Michael Scarlett. Neither of these books sold well or were widely read. To support himself, Cozzens traveled to Cuba to teach children of American residents. While there, he began writing short stories and collected ideas for two novels, Cock Pit (1928) and The Son of Perdition (1929).

He met Sylvia Bernice Baumgarten, a literary agent who worked for Brandt & Kirkpatrick. They married at a city hall in New York City on December 27, 1927. Sylvia helped edit and promote his books. Except for his time in the military during World War II, the Cozzenses lived quietly near Lambertville, New Jersey, and avoided most outside contact. Other early novels include S.S. San Pedro (1931), which won the Scribner's Prize, The Last Adam (1933), and Castaway (1934).

During World War II, Cozzens served in the U.S. Army Air Forces. At first, he updated manuals, and later he worked in the USAAF Office of Information Services, which acted as a middle person between the military and the civilian press. One of his tasks was to prevent situations that might embarrass General Henry H. Arnold, the leader of the Army Air Forces. Through this job, Cozzens became one of the most well-informed officers in the U.S. military. He reached the rank of major before being discharged at the end of the war. These experiences inspired his 1948 novel Guard of Honor, which won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize.

His 1957 novel By Love Possessed became a surprising success. It spent 34 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list and reached number one on September 22, 1957, three weeks after its release. It was also the top-selling novel of 1957. A movie version of the book was made in 1961. However, a negative review of the novel by Dwight Macdonald in Commentary magazine hurt Cozzens’s career. His later works did not receive the same praise or achieve similar popularity. His final novel, Morning, Noon and Night, was published in 1968 but sold poorly.

Throughout his life, Cozzens kept detailed letters with many important people, including writers such as Carlos Baker, Saul Bellow, Erskine Caldwell, Granville Hicks, Oliver La Farge, John O’Hara, and the publisher William Jovanovich. He also corresponded with Matthew J. Bruccoli, an academic author and biographer.

Style and themes

His novels are philosophical and focus on big ideas. They take place over a few days, have little action, and explore themes like love, duty, racial issues, and the law. Cozzens' novels ignored modernist writing styles and used old-fashioned words, traditional storytelling methods, and traditional themes. Because of this, many critics at the time called his work outdated or focused on right and wrong. Some critics strongly criticized him for resisting change.

His writing is carefully planned and has an unemotional, serious tone with quiet, dry humor. His stories can be difficult to understand, as he uses techniques like showing different layers of meaning and presenting two different viewpoints to express ideas. The main characters in his books are usually middle-class white men who work in professional jobs, such as assistant district attorney Abner Coates in The Just and the Unjust, doctor George Bull in The Last Adam, Episcopal priest Ernest Cudlipp in Men and Brethren, Col. Norman Ross in Guard of Honor, and lawyer Arthur Winner in By Love Possessed. These characters face challenges related to duty and ethics in their work while trying to balance these responsibilities with the emotional needs of their personal lives, often changing their views to do so. These characters are often based on real people he met in his own life.

Controversy

Cozzens avoided both fame and publicity, even saying he would refuse a Nobel Prize if people thought he might win one. In 1957, however, he broke from his usual habit of keeping private (a habit that earned him the nickname "the Garbo of U.S. letters" in a newspaper article) and agreed to an interview with Time magazine. His wife opposed the interview, but it was published in a September 2, 1957, cover story about the release of his book By Love Possessed.

Short story writer and critic Patrick J. Murphy noted that Cozzens’ interview style reflected his writing: he often used parody and sarcasm, quoted other works without giving credit, and frequently laughed. However, this style was hard to capture in print, and the article was further changed because the reporter who gathered information wrote it, while someone else was responsible for the final version.

After the article was published, readers sent many letters to Time criticizing Cozzens, calling him a snob, elitist, anti-Catholic, racist, and sexist. These criticisms were later used by critics such as Irving Howe, Frederick Crews, and Dwight Macdonald. Cozzens also became a symbol of "The Establishment" and the opposite of the counterculture movement of the 1960s, as his books often mocked people who opposed authority or "the system."

People who disagreed with Cozzens described him as a strong political and religious conservative. In reality, he was mostly apolitical and not deeply religious. His efforts to correct these misunderstandings were not successful, and he quickly lost the audience he had gained from By Love Possessed. His reputation suffered further in 1968 when critics, including John Updike, harshly criticized his final book, Morning, Noon, and Night. The book had a hard-to-read style and a weak, uninteresting main character.

As a result, sales of all his books dropped, and Cozzens is now largely unknown to the general public. However, he is still recognized by those familiar with the literary critiques of George Steiner, John Derbyshire, and Matthew Bruccoli, who have praised his work.

Legacy

Today, Cozzens is often grouped with his contemporaries John O'Hara and John P. Marquand, but his work is generally considered more challenging. His biographer, Matthew J. Bruccoli, noted the following qualities in Cozzens' prose style by describing his language use in the best seller By Love Possessed this way:

Cozzens was a critic of modernism and of realism that was more leftist than his own. He was quoted in a featured article in Time as saying (perhaps somewhat in jest), "I can't read ten pages of Steinbeck without throwing up."

Works

• Confusion (1924)
• Michael Scarlett (1925)
• Cock Pit (1928)
• The Son of Perdition (1929), also known as A Cure of Flesh
• S.S. San Pedro (1931)
• The Last Adam (1933), also known as A Cure of Flesh
• Castaway (1934)
• Men and Brethren (1936)
• Ask Me Tomorrow (1940)
• The Just and the Unjust (1942)
• Guard of Honor (1948)
• By Love Possessed (1957)
• Children and Others (1964), short stories
• Morning, Noon, and Night (1968)

Awards and honors

• In 1960, the William Dean Howells Medal was awarded for the book By Love Possessed.
• In 1958, the book By Love Possessed was nominated for the National Book Award.
• In 1957, the book By Love Possessed was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
• In 1949, the book Guard of Honor won the Pulitzer Prize.
• In 1931, the short story "A Farewell to Cuba" won the O. Henry Award.
• In 1936, the short story "Total Stranger" won the O. Henry Award.
• In 1931, the book S.S. San Pedro won the Scribner's Prize.

Personal background

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Cozzens lived on Staten Island. His father, Henry William Cozzens Jr., who died when Cozzens was 17, was a wealthy businessman and the grandson of William C. Cozzens, a governor of Rhode Island. His mother, Mary Bertha Wood, came from a family of Connecticut Tories who moved to Nova Scotia after the American Revolution. Cozzens lived a privileged life, which influenced the background of his most famous works.

As an Episcopalian, Cozzens attended the Episcopal Kent School in Connecticut from 1916 to 1922. After graduating, he went to Harvard University. A few months later, he left school because he was sick and had financial problems. He moved to New Brunswick, then traveled to Cuba to teach children of American residents. There, he began writing short stories and collecting ideas. After a year, he went to Europe with his mother and worked as a tutor to earn money.

During World War II, Cozzens served in the U.S. Army Air Forces. At first, he updated manuals, then worked in the USAAF Office of Information Services, which acted as a link between the military and the civilian press. One of his tasks was to manage news that could embarrass Gen. Henry H. Arnold, the chief of the Army Air Forces. Through his work, he became one of the most well-informed officers in the U.S. military and reached the rank of major before leaving the service at the end of the war.

He married Sylvia Bernice Baumgarten, a literary agent with Brandt & Kirkpatrick, at city hall in New York City on December 27, 1927. She edited and promoted his books. She was Jewish and a liberal Democrat, which made her very different from Cozzens, but their marriage lasted until both died in 1978. They had no children. In 1958, they moved to a home near Williamstown, Massachusetts. From 1960 to 1966, Cozzens served on the Harvard Board of Overseers’ Visiting Committee for the English Department. Except for his military service during World War II, the Cozzenses lived quietly near Lambertville, New Jersey, and avoided public attention.

James and Bernice Cozzens spent their final years in Martin County, Florida, living in Rio but using a post office box in Stuart as their address. After Bernice’s death in January 1978, Cozzens’s health worsened quickly. He died on August 9, 1978, from complications caused by spinal cancer and pneumonia, 10 days before his 75th birthday.

Archives

The papers of James Gould Cozzens, which date from 1878 to 1978, are stored in the Special Collections section of Princeton University Library.