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. His
autobiographical novel
An autobiographical novel is a form of novel using autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fictive elements. The literary technique is distinguished from an autobiography or memoir by the stipulation of being fiction. ...
, ''
A Death in the Family
''A Death in the Family'' is an autobiographical novel by author James Agee, 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 hom ...
'' (1957), won the author a
posthumous
Posthumous may refer to:
* Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death
* Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death
* Posthumous (album), ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987
* ...
1958 Pulitzer Prize. Agee is also known as a co-writer of the book ''
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
''Let Us Now Praise Famous Men'' is a book with text by American writer James Agee and photographs by American photographer Walker Evans, first published in 1941 in the United States. The work documents the lives of impoverished tenant farmers ...
'' and as the screenwriter of the film classics
''The African Queen'' and ''
The Night of the Hunter''.
Early life and education
Agee was born in
Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...
, to Hugh James Agee and Laura Whitman Tyler, at Highland Avenue and 15th Street, which was renamed James Agee Street, in what is now the
Fort Sanders neighborhood. When Agee was six, his father was killed in an automobile accident. From the age of seven, Agee and his younger sister, Emma, were educated in several
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
s. The most prominent of these was located near his mother's summer cottage two miles from
Sewanee, Tennessee
Sewanee () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,535 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Tullahoma, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Sewanee is best known as the home of ...
.
Saint Andrews School for Mountain Boys was run by the monastic
Order of the Holy Cross
The Order of the Holy Cross is an international Anglican monastic order that follows the Rule of St. Benedict.
History
The order was founded in 1884 by the Rev. James Huntington, an Episcopal priest, in New York City. The order moved to Mar ...
affiliated with the
Episcopal Church. It was there that Agee's lifelong friendship with Episcopal priest Father James Harold Flye, a history teacher at St. Andrew's, and his wife Grace Eleanor Houghton began in 1919. As Agee's close friend and mentor, Flye corresponded with him on literary and other topics through life and became a confidant of Agee's soul-wrestling. He published the letters after Agee's death.
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
Book Review pronounced ''The Letters of James Agee to Father Flye'' (1962 ) as "comparable in importance to Fitzgerald's 'The Crackup' and Thomas Wolfe's letters as a self-portrait of the artist in the modern American scene."
Agee's mother married St. Andrew's bursar Father Erskine Wright in 1924, and the two moved to
Rockland, Maine
Rockland is a city in Knox County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 6,936. It is the county seat of Knox County. The city is a popular tourist destination. It is a departure point for the Maine State ...
.
Agee went to
Knoxville High School for the 1924–1925 school year, then traveled with Father Flye to Europe in the summer, when Agee was sixteen. On their return, Agee transferred to a boarding school in
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
, entering the class of 1928 at
Phillips Exeter Academy
(not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God)
, location = 20 Main Street
, city = Exeter, New Hampshire
, zipcode ...
. Soon after, he began a correspondence with
Dwight Macdonald
Dwight Macdonald (March 24, 1906 – December 19, 1982) was an American writer, editor, film critic, social critic, literary critic, philosopher, and activist. Macdonald was a member of the New York Intellectuals and editor of their leftist maga ...
.
At Phillips Exeter, Agee was president of The Lantern Club and editor of the ''Monthly'' where his first short stories, plays, poetry and articles were published. Despite barely passing many of his high school courses, Agee was admitted to
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
's class of 1932, where he lived in
Thayer Hall
This is a list of dormitories at Harvard College. Only freshmen live in these dormitories, which are located in and around Harvard Yard. Sophomores, juniors and seniors live in the House system.
Apley Court
South of Harvard Yard on Holyoke Stre ...
and
Eliot House
Eliot House is one of twelve undergraduate residential Houses at Harvard University. It is one of the seven original houses at the college. Opened in 1931, the house was named after Charles William Eliot, who served as president of the universi ...
. At Harvard, Agee took classes taught by
Robert Hillyer
Robert Silliman Hillyer (June 3, 1895 – December 24, 1961) was an American poet and professor of English literature. He won a Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1934.
Early life
Hillyer was born in East Orange, New Jersey to an old Connecticut fa ...
and
I. A. Richards; his classmate in those was the future poet and critic
Robert Fitzgerald
Robert Stuart Fitzgerald (; 12 October 1910 – 16 January 1985) was an American poet, literary critic and translator whose renderings of the Greek classics "became standard works for a generation of scholars and students".Mitgang, Herbert (Janua ...
, with whom he would eventually work at ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
''.
Agee was editor-in-chief of the ''Harvard Advocate'' and delivered the class
ode
An ode (from grc, ᾠδή, ōdḗ) is a type of lyric poetry. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structured in three majo ...
at his
commencement.
Career
After graduation, Agee was hired by
Time Inc.
Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...
as a reporter, and moved to New York City, where he wrote for ''
Fortune
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck
* Wealth
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling
* Fortune, in a fortune cookie
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
'' magazine from 1932 to 1937, although he is better known for his later film criticism in ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' and ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
''. In 1934, he published his only volume of poetry, ''Permit Me Voyage'', with a foreword by
Archibald MacLeish.
In the summer of 1936, during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, Agee spent eight weeks on assignment for ''Fortune'' with photographer
Walker Evans
Walker Evans (November 3, 1903 – April 10, 1975) was an American photographer and photojournalist best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) documenting the effects of the Great Depression. Much of Evans' work from ...
, living among
sharecroppers
Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land.
Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...
in
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
. While ''Fortune'' did not publish his article, Agee turned the material into a book titled ''
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
''Let Us Now Praise Famous Men'' is a book with text by American writer James Agee and photographs by American photographer Walker Evans, first published in 1941 in the United States. The work documents the lives of impoverished tenant farmers ...
'' (1941). It sold only 600 copies before being
remaindered. Another manuscript from the same assignment discovered in 2003, titled ''Cotton Tenants,'' is believed to be the essay submitted to ''Fortune'' editors. The 30,000 word text, accompanied by photographs by Walker Evans, was published as a book in June 2013. John Jeremiah Sullivan writes in the Summer 2013 issue of BookForum that, "This is not merely an early, partial draft of Famous Men, in other words, not just a different book; it's a different Agee, an unknown Agee. Its excellence should enhance his reputation." A significant difference between the works is the use of original names in ''Cotton Tenants''; Agee assigned fictional names to the subjects of ''Famous Men'' in order to protect their identity.
Agee left ''Fortune'' in 1937 while working on a book, then, in 1939, he took a book reviewing job at ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', sometimes reviewing up to six books per week; together, he and his friend
Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer-editor, who, after early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), defected from the Soviet underground (1938), ...
ran "the back of the book" for ''Time''. In 1941, he became ''Time's'' film critic. From 1942–1948, he worked as a film critic for ''The Nation''. Agee was an ardent champion of
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
's then unpopular film ''
Monsieur Verdoux
''Monsieur Verdoux'' is a 1947 American black comedy film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, who plays a bigamist wife killer inspired by serial killer Henri Désiré Landru. The supporting cast includes Martha Raye, William Frawley, a ...
'' (1947), since recognized as a film classic. He was also a great admirer of
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the Theatre of the U ...
's ''
Henry V Henry V may refer to:
People
* Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026)
* Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125)
* Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161)
* Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227)
* Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...
'' and ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'', especially ''Henry V''. ''Agee on Film'' (1958) collected his writings of this period. Three writers listed it as one of the best film-related books ever written in a 2010 poll by the
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
.
In 1948, Agee quit his job to become a
freelance
''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
writer. One of his assignments was a well-received article for ''
Life Magazine
''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...
'' about the
silent movie
''Silent Movie'' is a 1976 American satirical comedy film co-written, directed by and starring Mel Brooks, released by 20th Century Fox in the summer of 1976. The ensemble cast includes Dom DeLuise, Marty Feldman, Bernadette Peters, and Sid Cae ...
comedians
Charles Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
,
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...
,
Harold Lloyd
Harold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) was an American actor, comedian, and stunt performer who appeared in many silent comedy films.Obituary ''Variety'', March 10, 1971, page 55.
One of the most influential film co ...
and
Harry Langdon
Harry Philmore Langdon (June 15, 1884 – December 22, 1944) was an American comedian who appeared in vaudeville, silent films (where he had his greatest fame), and talkies.Obituary ''Variety'', December 27, 1944, page 39.
Life and career
Bor ...
. The article has been credited for reviving Keaton's career. As a freelancer in the 1950s, Agee continued to write magazine articles while working on movie scripts; he developed a friendship with photographer
Helen Levitt
Helen Levitt (August 31, 1913 – March 29, 2009) was an American photographer and cinematographer. She was particularly noted for her street photography around New York City. David Levi Strauss described her as "the most celebrated and least ...
.
Screenwriting
In 1947 and 1948, Agee wrote an untitled screenplay for Charlie Chaplin, in which the Tramp survives a
nuclear holocaust
A nuclear holocaust, also known as a nuclear apocalypse, nuclear Armageddon, or atomic holocaust, is a theoretical scenario where the mass detonation of nuclear weapons causes globally widespread destruction and radioactive fallout. Such a scenar ...
; posthumously titled ''The Tramp's New World'', the text was published in 2005. The commentary Agee wrote for the 1948 documentary ''
The Quiet One'' was his first contribution to a film that was completed and released.
Agee's career as a movie scriptwriter was curtailed by his
alcoholism
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...
. Nevertheless, he is one of the credited screenwriters on two of the most respected films of the 1950s: ''
The African Queen'' (1951) and ''
The Night of the Hunter'' (1955).
His contribution to ''Hunter'' is shrouded in controversy. Some critics have claimed that the published script was written by the film's director,
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton (1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was a British actor. He was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play with his future w ...
. Reports that Agee's screenplay for ''Hunter'' was not used have been proved false by the 2004 discovery of his first draft, which although 293 pages in length, contains many scenes included in the film that Laughton directed. However, Laughton seemed to have edited great parts of the script because Agee's original script was too long. While not yet published, the first draft has been read by scholars, most notably Professor Jeffrey Couchman of
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. He credited Agee in the essay, "Credit Where Credit Is Due." Also false were reports that Agee was fired from the film. Laughton renewed Agee's contract and directed him to cut the script in half, which Agee did. Later, apparently at
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...
's request, Agee visited the set to settle a dispute between the star and Laughton. Letters and documents located in the archive of Agee's agent
Paul Kohner
Paul Kohner (May 29, 1902 – March 16, 1988) was an Austrian-American talent agent and producer who managed the careers of many stars and others—like Ingrid Bergman, Maurice Chevalier, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, John Huston, Liv Ullmann an ...
bear this out; they were documented by Laughton's biographer
Simon Callow
Simon Phillip Hugh Callow (born 15 June 1949) is an English film, television and voice actor, director, narrator and writer. He was twice nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his roles in ''A Room with a View (1985 ...
, whose
BFI
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...
book about ''The Night of the Hunter'' set this part of the record straight. Jeffrey Couchman, the author of a 2009 book about ''The Night of the Hunter'', writes that Agee's screenplay would have been a film about six hours long, so Laughton had to cut and edit a considerable part of it.
Personal life
Soon after graduation from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, he married Olivia Saunders (aka "Via") on January 28, 1933; they divorced in 1938. Later that same year, he married Alma Mailman. They divorced in 1941, and Alma moved to
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
with their year-old son
Joel Joel or Yoel is a name meaning "Yahweh Is God" and may refer to:
* Joel (given name), origin of the name including a list of people with the first name.
* Joel (surname), a surname
* Joel (footballer, born 1904), Joel de Oliveira Monteiro, Brazili ...
to live with Communist politician and writer
Bodo Uhse
Bodo Uhse (12 March 1904 in Rastatt, Grand Duchy of Baden – 2 July 1963 in Berlin) was a German writer, journalist and political activist. He was recognised as one of the most prominent authors in East Germany.
Early years
Uhse came from a ...
. Agee began living in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
with Mia Fritsch, whom he married in 1946. They had two daughters, Julia and Andrea, and a son John.
Death
In 1951 in
Santa Barbara, Agee, a hard drinker and chain-smoker, suffered a heart attack; on May 16, 1955, Agee was in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
when he suffered a fatal heart attack in a taxi cab en route to a doctor's appointment. He was buried on a farm he owned at
Hillsdale, New York
Hillsdale is a town in Columbia County, New York, near Hudson, New York and Great Barrington, Massachusetts. State Routes 22 and 23 intersect near the town center, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The town has several r ...
, property still held by Agee descendants.
Legacy
During his lifetime, Agee enjoyed only modest public recognition. Since his death, his literary reputation has grown. In 1957, his novel ''A Death in the Family'' (based on the events surrounding his father's death) was published posthumously and in 1958 won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In 2007, Dr. Michael Lofaro published a restored edition of the novel using Agee's original manuscripts. Agee's work had been heavily edited before its original publication by publisher David McDowell.
Agee's reviews and screenplays have been collected in two volumes of ''Agee on Film''. There is some dispute over the extent of his participation in the writing of ''The Night of the Hunter''.
''Let Us Now Praise Famous Men'' has grown to be considered Agee's masterpiece. Ignored on its original publication in 1941, the book has since been placed among the greatest literary works of the 20th century by the New York School of Journalism and the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
. It was the inspiration for the
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...
opera ''
The Tender Land
''The Tender Land'' is an opera with music by Aaron Copland and libretto by Horace Everett, a pseudonym for Erik Johns.
History
The opera tells of a farm family in the Midwest of the United States. Copland was inspired to write this opera aft ...
''.
David Simon
David Judah Simon (born February 9, 1960) is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on ''The Wire'' (2002–08).
He worked for ''The Baltimore Sun'' City Desk for twelve years (1982–95), wrote '' Hom ...
, journalist and creator of acclaimed television series ''
The Wire
''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...
'', credited the book with impacting him early in his career and influencing his practice of journalism.
The composer
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, "Proba ...
set sections of "Descriptions of Elysium" from ''Permit Me Voyage'' to music, composing a song based on "Sure On This Shining Night." In addition, he set prose from the "Knoxville" section of ''A Death in the Family'' in his work for
soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...
and orchestra titled ''
Knoxville: Summer of 1915.'' "Sure On This Shining Night" has also been set to music by composers René Clausen, Z. Randall Stroope and
Morten Lauridsen
Morten Johannes Lauridsen (born February 27, 1943) is an American composer. A National Medal of Arts recipient (2007), he was composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1994 to 2001, and is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus ...
.
In late 1979 the filmmaker Ross Spears premiered his film ''
AGEE: A Sovereign Prince of the English Language'', which was later nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and was awarded a Blue Ribbon at the 1980 American Film Festival. ''AGEE'' featured James Agee's friends, Dwight Macdonald, Robert Fitzgerald, Robert Saudek, and
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...
, as well as the three women to whom James Agee had been married. In addition, Father James Harold Flye was a featured interviewee. President Jimmy Carter speaks about his favorite book, ''Let Us Now Praise Famous Men''.
''The Man Who Lives Here Is Loony'', a one-act play by Knoxville-based songwriter and playwright RB Morris, takes place in a New York apartment during one night in Agee's life. The play has been performed at venues around Knoxville, and at the
Cornelia Street Cafe
The Cornelia Street Cafe, was a restaurant & bar at 29 Cornelia Street in New York City's Greenwich Village, opened in July 1977. The cafe closed at the end of 2018, due to rising rents from the gentrification of the West Village; ending on its ho ...
in Greenwich Village.
[Matthew Everett,]
R.B. Morris Revives His One-Act Play About James Agee
" ''Knoxville Mercury'', October 26, 2016.
Bibliography
* 1934 ''Permit Me Voyage'', in the
Yale Series of Younger Poets
The Yale Series of Younger Poets is an annual event of Yale University Press aiming to publish the debut collection of a promising American poet. Established in 1918, the Younger Poets Prize is the longest-running annual literary award in the Uni ...
* 1935 ''
Knoxville: Summer of 1915'', prose poem later set to music by Samuel Barber.
* 1941 ''
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Three Tenant Families'', Houghton Mifflin
* 1948 ''The Tramp's New World'', screenplay for Charlie Chaplin
* 1951 ''
The Morning Watch'', Houghton Mifflin
* 1951 ''
The African Queen'', screenplay from
C. S. Forester novel
* 1952 ''
Face to Face'' (''
The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky
"The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" is an 1898 western short story by American author Stephen Crane (1871–1900). Originally published in the February, 1898 issue of ''McClure's Magazine'', it was written in England. The story's protagonist is a Tex ...
'' segment), screenplay from
Stephen Crane
Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism an ...
story
* 1954 ''
The Night of the Hunter'', screenplay from
Davis Grubb
Davis Alexander Grubb (July 23, 1919 – July 24, 1980) was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for his 1953 novel '' The Night of the Hunter'', which was
adapted as a film in 1955 by Charles Laughton.
Biography
Born in M ...
novel
* 1957 ''
A Death in the Family
''A Death in the Family'' is an autobiographical novel by author James Agee, 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 hom ...
'' (posthumous; stage adaptation: ''All the Way Home'')
* 1958 ''Agee on Film''
* 1960 ''Agee on Film II''
* 1962 ''Letters of James Agee to Father Flye''
* 1972 ''The Collected Short Prose of James Agee''
* 2001 ''Let Us Now Praise Famous Men'' (new edition)
* 2013 ''Cotton Tenants: Three Families'', Melville House
Published as
* ''Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, A Death in the Family, Shorter Fiction'' (
Michael Sragow
Michael Sragow (born June 26, 1952 in New York) is a film critic and columnist who has written for the ''Orange County Register'', ''The Baltimore Sun'', ''Film Comment'', ''The San Francisco Examiner'', ''The New Times'', ''The New Yorker'' (whe ...
, ed.) (
Library of America
The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors rangi ...
, 2005) . Stories include "Death in the Desert," "They That Sow in Sorrow Shall Reap" and "A Mother's Tale."
* ''Let Us Now Praise Famous Men'', Violette Editions, 2001, .
* ''Film Writing and Selected Journalism: Uncollected Film Writing, 'The Night of the Hunter', Journalism and Book Reviews'' (Michael Sragow, ed.) (
Library of America
The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors rangi ...
, 2005) .
* ''Brooklyn Is: Southeast of the Island: Travel Notes'', (Jonathan Lethem, preface) (
Fordham University Press
The Fordham University Press is a publishing house, a division of Fordham University, that publishes primarily in the humanities and the social sciences. Fordham University Press was established in 1907 and is headquartered at the university's Lin ...
, 2005) .
References
Further reading
* ''Letters of James Agee to Father Flye,''
* James Agee, ''Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, etc.'',
The Library of America
The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors rang ...
, 159, with notes by Michael Sragow, 2005.
* Alma Neuman, ''Always Straight Ahead: A Memoir'', Louisiana State University Press, 176 pages, 1993. .
* Kenneth Seib, "James Agee: Promise and Fulfillment", in ''Critical Essays in Modern Literature'', University of Pittsburgh Press, 175 pages, 1968.
* Geneviève Moreau, ''The Restless Journey of James Agee'', New York: William Morrow and Company, 1977.
* ''Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film'', ed. Ian Aitken, London: Routledge, 2005
*Paul F. Brown, ''Rufus: James Agee in Tennessee,'' Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 422 pages, 2018. .
External links
*
*
*
A chronology of James Agee's life & work, Agee Films
James Agee Collection Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin
Essay on Agee's Collected Work ''The New Yorker''
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men on Violette EditionsJames Agee: A Bibliography ''First Editions''
James Agee Film Project Photographs, 1879 - 1956*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agee, James
1909 births
1955 deaths
American film critics
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American male writers
Poets from Tennessee
American male screenwriters
Glascock Prize winners
Harvard College alumni
Harvard Advocate alumni
People from Knoxville, Tennessee
Phillips Exeter Academy alumni
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners
Yale Younger Poets winners
20th-century American poets
American male novelists
American male poets
The Nation (U.S. magazine) people
Time (magazine) people
Screenwriters from Tennessee
Novelists from Tennessee
20th-century American non-fiction writers
American male non-fiction writers
20th-century American screenwriters
People from Greenwich Village