James Gould Cozzens, By Love Possessed

James MacDonald (University of Exeter)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1957

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Over the course of a long, September weekend, Arthur Winner’s life is altered forever as he faces a series of crises that assault the fabric of his upper middle class life like a literal earthquake. Winner, prominent lawyer and leading citizen of Brocton, in the eastern United States, is no stranger to personal tragedy, having lost his first wife and eldest son Warren before the novel begins. Now happily remarried to the much younger former teacher of his adolescent daughter, Winner enters this Indian summer weekend with a spirit of general bonhomie that characterises both his abundant humanity and his place in the community. A visiting lawyer from New York confides in him about the delicate nature of the case at hand while partaking of the community picnic. An eminent general…

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1013 words

Citation: MacDonald, James. "By Love Possessed". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 June 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23251, accessed 18 April 2024.]

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