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James Gould Cozzens

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Author

The Resume

    (August 19, 1903-August 9, 1978)
    Born in Chicago, Illinois
    Wrote the novels ‘Confusion’ (1924), ‘S.S. San Pedro’ (1931), ‘The Last Adam’ (1933), ‘Men and Brethren’ (1936), ‘The Just and the Unjust’ (1942), ‘Guard of Honor’ (1948), ‘By Love Possessed’ (1957), and ‘Morning, Noon, and Night’ (1968)
    Published the short story collection ‘Children and Others’ (1964)

Why he might be annoying:

    After two years at Harvard, he was put on academic probation, took a leave of absence, and never returned.
    Despite that, the university awarded him an honorary Doctor of Letters degree (1952).
    ‘Time’ dubbed him ‘the Garbo of US letters’ for his reclusiveness.
    He announced in advance that he would refuse the Nobel Prize in Literature if he won it.
    He called himself ‘a natural born snob’ and said, ‘I still feel better than other people.’

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was married to Bernice Baumgarten for fifty years.
    During World War II, he served in the US Army Air Force’s Office of Information Services as a liaison between the military and the civilian press.
    He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for ‘Guard of Honor.’
    ’By Love Possessed’ won the Academy of American Arts and Letters’ William Dean Howells Medal for best novel of the previous five years (1960).
    He made the best-seller lists despite employing a densely layered, intellectually demanding writing style.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 7 Votes: 28.57% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying