James Gould Cozzens, Guard of Honor

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 1948

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Ocanara Army Air Force Base, Florida, September 1943 is the setting of this panoramic novel. The action begins aboard General Ira (Bus) Beal’s aircraft returning to base with seven passengers, including the general, Colonel Norman Ross, Lieutenant Colonel Benny Carricker, Captain Nathaniel Hicks, Lieutenant Amanda Turck, Master Sergeant Dominic Pellerino and Technician Fifth Grade Mortimer McIntyre, three of whom are there courtesy of the general’s grace and favour of a lift home. This first scene, with flashbacks to the day just gone, culminates in the plane’s near collision with another incoming plane, piloted by a black officer. Carricker, a distinguished flying ace, loses his temper on touch-down and breaks the black pilot’s nose with one punch, unleashing a wave of racial…

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1032 words

Citation: MacDonald, James. "Guard of Honor". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 June 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23250, accessed 18 April 2024.]

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