''A Death in the Family'' is an autobiographical novel by author

James Agee James Rufus Agee ( ; November 27, 1909 – May 16, 1955) was an American novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, writing for ''Time Magazine'', he was one of the most influential film critics in the United States. ...

, set in Knoxville, Tennessee. He began writing it in 1948, but it was not quite complete when he died in 1955 (with reputedly many portions having been written in the home of his friend

Frances Wickes Frances Wickes (born Frances Gillespy, Lansingburgh, New York, August 28, 1875 – Peterborough, New Hampshire, May 5, 1967) was a psychologist and writer. Biography A graduate of Columbia University, Wickes was a teacher, writer and playw ...

). It was edited and released posthumously in 1957 by editor David McDowell. Agee's widow and children were left with little money after Agee's death and McDowell wanted to help them by publishing the work. Agee won the

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published durin ...

in 1958 for the novel. The novel was included on ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923.

Plot

The novel is based on the events that occurred to Agee in 1915 when his father went out of town to see his own father, who had suffered a heart attack. During the return trip, Agee's father was killed in a car accident. The novel provides a portrait of life in Knoxville, Tennessee, showing how such a loss affects the young widow, her two children, her atheist father and the dead man's alcoholic brother.

New version

University of Tennessee professor Michael Lofaro claimed the version published in 1957 was not the version intended for print by the author. He discussed his work at a conference that was part of the Knoxville James Agee Celebration (April 2005). Lofaro tracked down the author's original manuscripts and notes and has reconstructed a version he says is more authentic. Lofaro's version of the novel, titled ''A Death in the Family: A Restoration of the Author's Text'', was published in 2007 as part of the 10-volume set ''The Collected Works of James Agee'' (University of Tennessee Press). Lofaro is also the author of ''Agee Agonistes: Essays on the Life, Legend, and Works of James Agee'' (2007).

Differences

According to Lofaro, McDowell altered the original text in a number of ways: *Removed the original opening, a nightmare scene, and instead started the novel with "Knoxville: Summer of 1915," a previously published short work of Agee's that was not intended as part of the novel. *Altered the order of the book, which was intended to be chronological. *Some chapters were removed. *Some chapters were chopped up. *Some chapters were moved and presented as flashbacks. *The number of chapters was changed from 44 short chapters to 20.

Adaptations

The novel was adapted into ''All the Way Home'', a 1961 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by

Tad Mosel Tad Mosel (May 1, 1922 – August 24, 2008) was an American playwright and one of the leading dramatists of hour-long teleplay genre for live television during the 1950s. He received the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play '' All the Way H ...

. The movie '' All The Way Home'' (1963) was adapted by Philip H. Reisman, Jr. from the Agee novel and the Mosel play. It was filmed in the same neighborhood where Agee grew up in Knoxville. Produced by

David Susskind David Howard Susskind (December 19, 1920 – February 22, 1987) was an American producer of TV, movies, and stage plays and also a TV talk show host. His talk shows were innovative in the genre and addressed timely, controversial topics beyond th ...

and directed by Alex Segal, it stars Robert Preston,

Jean Simmons Jean Merilyn Simmons, (31 January 1929 – 22 January 2010) was a British actress and singer. One of J. Arthur Rank's "well-spoken young starlets", she appeared predominantly in films, beginning with those made in Great Britain during and aft ...

and

Pat Hingle Martin Patterson Hingle (July 19, 1924 – January 3, 2009) was an American character actor who appeared in stage productions and in hundreds of television shows and feature films. His first film was '' On the Waterfront'' in 1954. He often pla ...

. A live version of the play aired on television in 1981 starring Sally Field and William Hurt. It was broadcast live on NBC from the Bing Theatre on the campus of the University of Southern California. A TV movie filmed in Tennessee and starring

Annabeth Gish Anne Elizabeth "Annabeth" Gish (born March 13, 1971) is an American actress. She has played roles in films ''Shag'', ''Hiding Out'', ''Mystic Pizza'', ''SLC Punk!'', '' The Last Supper'' and '' Double Jeopardy''. On television, she played Specia ...

, aired on PBS in 2002.

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. The music critic Donal Henahan said, "Probab ...

wrote ''Knoxville: Summer of 1915'' (1947, revised 1950) on commission from the American soprano

Eleanor Steber Eleanor Steber (July 17, 1914October 3, 1990) was an American operatic soprano. Steber is noted as one of the first major opera stars to have achieved the highest success with training and a career based in the United States. Biography Eleanor ...

, who had asked for a work for soprano with orchestra. William Mayer wrote an opera based on the novel; it premiered in 1983.
Knoxville the musical
(2022) written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, is a "universal coming-of-age story about family, faith and love—and the boy who will grow up to write it. With a sweeping musical score blending folk, bluegrass and ballads." 2-time Tony winner Frank Galati adapted Knoxville's book and directed the musical. Knoxville was in rehearsals for its world premiere at the Asolo Repertory Theater in Sarasota, FL but was forced to stop because of the pandemic. It came to the stage as part of their 2021-2022 season i
April to May 2022

References

External links