James AgeeRecensioni

A Death in the Family, published posthumously in 1957, is amongst the most beautiful books I've ever read (listened to - this was the audiobook). Agee's language use and the flow of his prose are things of wonder. In a book that takes place almost entirely within a few days, Agee patiently describes the acts and feelings of a family that has just lost a 36-year old husband and father, a good man, who drove too quickly, and who ended up in a ditch, killed instantly. I don't like writing book reviews, but I do want to commend this book and to recommend it in the highest possible terms.

If you want a basic history of the california movie business from the silents to the advent of Cinemascope, here it is.

This was one of those books that was never on any of my reading lists but seemed like one of those American classics that I should have read. It's such a very sad story, it's hard to recommend....but the descriptive writing is unlike anything I've ever read. This story could be great for a book club discussion.

Reason read; Pulitzer 1958, TIOLI read a book with death in the title
I had this on my list to read at least twice before and I finally got it read. I did not know anything about the book and discovered that this is an autobiographical novel. The author's dad died in a car accident. In this story the death is reflected by the wife, by the brother of the deceased , by Rufus the son and his sister. It explores religion. The wife is Catholic, the father is an atheist. The author died before publishing the story. The story is set in Tennessee.
The setting is in the early 1900s. The automobile is new, many still get around by horse and wagon. It was rewritten by David McDowell who took liberties. Michael Lofaro maintains that the novel as published 1957 was not the version intended for print by the author. Lofaro discussed his work at a conference that was part of the Knoxville James Agee Celebration (April 2005). Having tracked down the author's original manuscripts and notes, Lofaro reconstructed a version he considers more authentic. This version, entitled A Death in the Family: A Restoration of the Author's Text, was published in 2007. I think I read the one by McDowell. And that would be the one that actually won the Pulitzer.

For anyone who likes to read letters, this collection is fantastic and fascinating.

Premio Pulitzer 1958

PERMIT ME VOYAGE (1934) | read 2023-02

Constitutes Part I in this edition, Agee's first book. Comments on the jacket, flyleaf, and Robert Fitzgerald's introduction suggest Agee's reputation as contrarian and the waves he made with journalism and film writing sparked this reprint, taking advantage of the reflected light of his more popular works. I knew Agee was linked to films I admired, without being able to cite them from memory, but haven't read anything. A bit of online reading indicate Agee wasn't overly popular in his lifetime; this collection was first published in 1970, when his literary reputation (enhanced especially by his posthumous Pulitzer in Literature) was widely recognised.

My initial impression (skipping the Intro so as to avoid any spoilers): pretentious or overly earnest, with glimpses of creativity similar to my impression of Yvor Winter. The "essay" (a prose poem?) styled as Dedication is an interesting idea and a case in point. There are many lines and phrases that resonate, but few complete poems that land solidly.

Agee strikes me as someone I'd benefit most from having someone guide me through his work, an admirer familiar with his writing in all these genres, and could point out interesting anecdotes and link work relevant to my interests. I could discover the same on my own, of course, but it will take me much longer a time, and likely include works I don't find compelling. Not persuaded I have the necessary motivation for that, frankly.

//

To be read:

Part II: LATER POEMS (1933-1950)
Part III: JOHN CARTER (1932-1936)
Part IV: VERSE (1929-1955)

This was on the People's version of the Modern Library List of best fiction. Published posthumously, it wasn't really edited. A close look at something one usually looks away from. Much of it is brilliant.

I did appreciate the parts describing the families, the horrible condition of their poverty, but I've never been a reader to lean towards the poetical. There are chapters where Agee mixes prose and poetry.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

This is a difficult review to write, because I believe I should have felt more than I did while reading this poignant account of the death of a young father. I’m not sure if the lack of connection was my fault or Agee’s, but I am going to assume it was mine.

The descriptions of the relationship between the father, Jay, and his son, Rufus, are touching and very real. Since the book is autobiographical in nature, Agee having lost his own father at the age of six, they no doubt ring true because they are. Perhaps it is the reactions of the other adults--the mother, aunt and mother’s parents--that don’t quite fit for me, but then I have never been the mother of small children to whom I must give the sad news that their father is gone. Surely every person handles this kind of grief in their own way.

I have experienced loss, however, both expected and unexpected, and I know that the shock of losing someone who is young and vital and expected to live for years to come is quite different than that of a life closing in age. I’m sure the loss of a father at so young an age leaves an impression that affects everything going forward. I felt so much for this boy, who is already tackling the obstacles of trying to fit into a group that continually ridicules you, but because I could not get close enough to the others to care I felt there was something missing.

The events of this story are sorrowful, bitter, painful and heartbreaking, but my own feelings were sympathy rather than empathy. I recognized the tragedy; I just couldn’t feel it. For his beautiful and lyrical writing style, all kudos to Agee. For his willingness to explore a subject that must have been wretched to revisit, kudos as well.

Poignant, painting with words.

I'm not sure what's a spoiler here. I mean, it's pretty clear that the book is about family death from the summary and the title, but I'll put the whole thing under a spoiler just in case.

A long and winding book about death and the effects it has on an extended family. It's also about class, religion and a child's longing for connection in a world he doesn't yet understand.

The story moves at a glacial pace and I'm glad. The beginning of the story shows what life is like with Jay (the father); the middle gives all the characters time to adjust to their new lives without him; and the end brings home the finality of death as grief pours from the family.

Rufus is a pretty good kid in the beginning. It's clear that he loves his family and is squaring up to be a solid adult, albeit one with a bunch of internal conflicts, especially over religion. He's got a poor sense of reading other people because he doesn't understand why they would be cruel or would viciously tease another kid. Welcome to the world, kid. Trolls and assholes exist and it's best to ignore them and move on.

He is stoic as an observer in the second act until he isn't. Eventually his anger kicks in when the adults begin to shunt him aside. It's that anger that brings him to the funeral and the third part of the book where Rufus looks for a father-like connection with other male relatives. The book introduces and throws away relatives and friends as unworthy (pompous, pretentious, slow, etc.) in Rufus's eyes until someone is introduced that tries to see the world through his eyes. His Uncle Andrew embraces him as an individual, detached from all others and shows him promise.

In general, kids generally don't remember the details of place and when they do, they are often wrong or exaggerated. It's often a clever writing device.

The physical details of this book were on target. Rufus describes big things and is frequently confused by them. His character rings true for his age and the era in which he lived.

I laughed when the kids came up with the idea that they were 'orphans'. The adults around their mother weren't horrified by the idea that they'd been 'orphaned' by their father's death, despite their mother standing right there exclaiming that they were most certainly not orphans!

Later on other people call them orphans, much to the dismay of his mother.

The word orphan has been so romanticized and bastardized through literature. I loved the way that Agee poked fun at it.

This was a must read as a documentary photographer. Started in college but finished reading years later.½

The word darkness is found about 45 times in this novel, which is the primary feeling I got while reading. Mary Lynch Follett, a profoundly religious woman, endures the death of her young husband as she prepares to manage single-mothering her two young children, Rufus and Catherine. Jay Follett, her husband, had been called to the country by his alcoholic brother Ralph to visit their supposedly terminally ill father. Unfortunately, it turns out that Ralph has not sized up the situation accurately, and Jay gets into a fatal car accident on the way home from his unnecessary visit.

Mary’s brother Andrew identifies Jay’s body and obtains the accident details to share with Mary, their parents, and Aunt Hannah. All provide varying levels of support for Mary as she tells her children about their father’s death and copes with the tragedy. Mary’s Catholic faith, which she does not share with Jay and all family members, is an asset and a handicap as the dreadful hours leading up to the funeral.

James Agee’s Pulitzer-winning book makes quite a statement about love and tragedy. Religious conflict within the family provided a significant theme for the novel. As the story advances, it forced me to wonder about the value of organized religion, especially the Catholic church. The children, ages six and three, are depicted with very sophisticated thoughts. I thought about how many adults still underestimate the minds and perceptions of children. Agee seemed concerned and aware that euphemisms and incomplete explanations often baffle children and lead to lifelong misunderstandings and resentments.
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Beautiful.
Visceral.
Astonishing and courageous, and so timely.

You wanna crab about the wi-fi being down? Try living without window screens, on a sub-nutritious diet of sorghum, field peas, and coffee, playing the losing, desperate economic roulette of the barely-literate Alabama cotton sharecropper in 1936, and see how your priorities might change.

This film, while certainly watchable, is just too contrived to deserve the greatness that has been bestowed upon it. Way too preachy--and I don't mean Mitchum's character! Great performances by the child actors, however, and by most of the adults. But Shelley Winters religious "rebirth" or whatever you want to call it is just ridiculous, and it isn't a good performance. Lilian Gish is saddled with the oh-too-precious lines toward the end of the film, which are almost too much to bear. But I do appreciate her skill with a shotgun.½

Heartbreaking.

Poetic prose, unique and very detailed. Here's my full review:
http://www.sholee.net/2019/02/mpov-death-in-family.html

La mejor obra leída este año, por ahora. Difícil de superar, esta descripción de lo que supone la muerte de lo que amas en los que se quedan. Lo que hace la religión, a quién le sirve su consuelo y a quién no. Como vives la muerte si eres un adulto ya domesticado o si eres un niño en proceso de aprendizaje. La estructura de la obra con esos textos en cursiva, con todo lo que pasa por la cabeza de un niño de unos 7 u 8 años, situados donde el editor quiso ya que la obra estaba a medio rematar, no creo que varíen las intenciones del autor, que se salta una de las convenciones principales del escritor, no describas, muestra. Agee, no sé si por ser periodista, lo cuenta todo. Y aún así no es aburrido, ni pesado. Es sorprendete. Un milagro.

James Agee was a very good writer with a very good novel "A Death in the Family" to his credit, and three film scripts produced. He is reasonably lauded for his efforts. The USA of his times, the 1940's and 50's did not give him his due and this volume contains his essay on silent film comedies, and the film reviews he wrote for "The Nation" and "Time" magazines. His reviews set a very high standard of readability and sound analysis and are an education for those of us laying down reviews for Library thing. And all of us should read them. My copy is Grosset's universal Library, 1969.

I have not seen all of the films whose scripts are included here. But, the scripts are here and it takes no great imagination to flesh them out, after having seen "The African Queen" and "Night of the Hunter." the films are the high point of their art, and the book is to be treasured both as examples of their craft, and as theatrical experiences. It is a great pity that he lost his life to alcoholism so quickly, thus reducing the body of his work.½

I have never seen the portrait of grief drawn so vividly and sporadically as in Agee’s posthumous novel, A Death in the Family. Every space, light, distance, and shadow weigh heavy against every ounce of feeling derive from the minutiae of everyday gestures and conversations; and they weigh heaviest once they turn into a series of memories. Since this novel does not rely on a rich narrative but more on the inevitable wake of death, it painfully but genuinely communicates—in often repetitive but differently structured phrases—a confrontation with mortality through its band of characters. The children are confused, the others conflicted, one is ladened with guilt, the wife is submerged both in emptiness and a roller coaster of emotions because in A Death in the Family, no months or years roll by but a day by day painstaking coping until the funeral. But as much as Agee’s prose is stunning it feels incomplete with some characters underused and underdeveloped. The italicised parts which are interspersed between the present seem out of place, even dull and negligible. Whilst its religious themes are also appreciable I can’t help but notice how unpolished they are that they just meddle with the novel’s intent. It is always questionable to publish an author’s leftover works after a sudden death. They often look like a mosaic created from whatever scraps are available. This is noticeable in A Death in the Family but how palpably slow-moving this all is gives bereavement the potential to immortalise; its mourners surrounded by its many arms in whispers of gnawing thoughts of the departed. For this they live on.½

A heartrending eyewitness account of the desperate plight of sharecroppers and tenant farmers of Alabama during the 1930s. A very important piece of American history told in stark, elegant prose and photographs. It is a companion piece to “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men”. I think the legacy of exploitation affects us today.

Unexpected loss
Daddy's never coming home
you can't pray him back.

Quickly before I address the rest of the book, I have to mention that I did not read the italicized portions within the story. I don't like the idea of editors placing parts of a story where they weren't originally on the basis that they "would certainly have encouraged him to include [them] in the final draft" as explained in A Note on the Text at the beginning. If we're left to guess on what a dead author would have wanted, I'll always leave things as they were found.

When reading A Death in the Family, you can tell James Agee is writing from experience. I can't imagine a sharper, more devastating depiction of a child dealing with loss than what exists here. Rufus' thoughts and actions are detailed with great intelligence, even to the point that his reaction to loss seems more reasonable than his mother's.

If there's a book called A Death in the Family with a broken wheelbarrow on the cover, nobody's really disguising what's coming. That doesn't mean it can't surprise you.