This one comes from his Pulitzer-winning 1948 WWII novel “Guard of Honor.” This time with a Romans 8:20 vibe:“Conceited men proudly called their shots and proceeded to miss them, without even the comfort of realizing that few attended long enough to notice, and fewer cared… courageous patience overdid it and missed the boat; good Samaritans, stopping, found it was a trap and lost their shirts, too — everyday incidents in the manifold pouring-past of the Gaderene swine, possessed at someone’s whim, but demonstrably innocent — for what was a guilty pig, or a wicked one? — “
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5 responses to “Another One From James Gould Cozzens”
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Literature and fiction in general have always been a struggle for me, thus I am much obliged for these references. It's interesting to see the range of reviews on Amazon for this book, and the earlier Cozzens novel you posted about.
I'm tempted to give him a try, but would like to know a bit more on why his work is recommended by this site.
Thanks!
What Jim said.
Cozzens' critical reputation plummeted after 1958, when his successful novel 'By Love Possessed' was attacked by Dwight Macdonald for representing conservative Eisenhower-era values that were regarded as 'middle-brow'. There is a whole literature on what happened to Cozzens' reception — he had been writing since the 1920s, and had experienced considerable mainstream success prior to "By Love Possessed. The 'Cozzens-delendus-est' whiplash of 1958 succeeded in consigning his work to almost total, lasting neglect.
What is interesting about Cozzens is, from a Mockingbird perspective, at least two things:
(1) He understood the Episcopal Church from the inside out, and describes parish life with devastating adroitness. His 1931 novel entitled "Men and Brethren" used to be thought of as the most sympathetic and accurate American novel ever written about an Episcopal minister. (Only Lloyd Douglas' "Green Light" comes close to "Men and Brethren", and in that novel, 'Dean Harcourt' is a supporting character rather than the main one.) In any case, Cozzens has lengthy passages in almost all his novels that describe churches and church life with a familiarity that hits close to home for anyone who has ever served in the Protestant ministry.
(2) There is a low anthropology to his view of human beings, which is both empirical and compassionate. One of Cozzens' favorite poets is Fulke Greville, the late Elizabethan calvinist humanist. This speaks volumes. The climax of "By Love Possessed", which was made, incidentally, into a Hollywood movie with Lana Turner and George Hamilton (who later starred in "Love at First Bite"), turns on a quotation from Greville's 'closet' drama "Mustapha".
Cozzens' sceptical realism, associated with an extremely well read mind, touches on themes that can become a sort of tonic to much else that we hear from the Christian world.
To sum up, this is a neglected and somewhat trashed writer who won prizes (such as the Pulitzer Prize in 1949) and much critical and popular acclaim for many years, who then 'vanished' beneath a blizzard of 'partisan abuse' (Cozzens' phrase describing what happened). If you are willing to look, you can find a thinker whose whole work was an attempt to offer his readers Milton's "new acquist of true experience" ('Samson Agonistes', lines 1755-56) and thus illuminate the bewildering world.
Correction:
"Men and Brethren" appeared in 1936, not 1931
Paul — That is the finest blog answer I've ever received!
I love discovering new writers and titles, and have found this blog to be a unique and incredibly helpful place to learn.
Any chance of posting on recommended reading for the summer?
I'm gonna one-click on this one! And btw…I'm loving Crichton's "Travels", as recommended recently.