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Paul Fussell

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Author

The Resume

    (March 22, 1924-May 23, 2012)
    Born in Pasadena, California
    Literary critic and cultural historian
    Wrote 'Poetic Meter and Poetic Form' (1965), 'Samuel Johnson and the Life of Writing' (1971), 'The Great War and Modern Memory' (1975), 'Abroad: British Literary Travelling Between the Wars' (1980), 'Class: A Guide Through the American Status System' (1982), 'Thank God for the Atom Bomb and Other Essays' (1988), 'BAD: Or the Dumbing Down of America' (1991), 'Doing Battle: The Making of a Skeptic' (1996) and 'The Boys' Crusade: The American Infantry in Northwestern Europe, 1944-45' (2003)
    Won a National Book Award for 'The Great War and Modern Memory'
    Appeared in 'The Century: America's Time' (1999) and Ken Burns' 'The War' (2007)

Why he might be annoying:

    He disliked academia, but became a university professor.
    He wrote, 'From the 1950s on, my presiding emotion was annoyance, often intensifying to virtually disabling anger.'
    He criticized Stephen Ambrose and Tom Brokaw as 'military romanticists.'
    His first wife portrayed him as a cad who resented her literary efforts (and never appreciated her cooking).
    His acerbic essays prompted the Washington Post to call him 'the nation's newest world-class curmudgeon.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    During World War II, he was wounded by a shell that killed the sargeant standing next to him, and earned the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
    He said, 'After the war, which was ugliness incarnate, I sought any outlet that was artistic.'
    He was a PhD who hated using the title 'Doctor.'
    Joseph Heller called 'The Great War' 'the best book I know about World War I.'
    He said that in writing 'My main rule is: Thou shalt not be boring.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 91.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 20 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 65 Votes: 76.92% Annoying