Though over-written and perhaps pretentious, Confusion [Cozzens's first novel] introduced the search for values or standards of conduct that would characterize all of Cozzens's work….

Michael Scarlett showed what would be the mark of Cozzens's fiction: his ability to treat a subject with authority, for the novel manifests a knowledge of Elizabethan literature and society remarkable in a twenty-two-year-old Harvard drop-out. (p. xii)

Cozzens's first three novels developed superior young figures who need an occupation worthy of their abilities; however, Cock Pit was the first novel in which he used material he knew from experience and observation. It established what became the most notable quality of his major fiction: the authentic presentation of a profession and the society associated with it. This authenticity is something more than accuracy or realism. When Cozzens learned something, he really learned it and was able to use the information without appearing to...