- Awards And Honors:
- Pulitzer Prize (1963)
James Agee
-
Who was James Agee?
James Agee (1909–1955) was an American writer known as a poet, novelist, and influential film critic. He brought rigorous standards to his reviews, which appeared in Time and The Nation.
Agee's works include the volume of poems, Permit Me Voyage, and Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, which he created with photographer Walker Evans. From 1948, Agee worked as a film scriptwriter, notably for The African Queen and The Night of the Hunter. His autobiographical novel, A Death in the Family, won a Pulitzer Prize.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What kinds of books and writing is James Agee known for?
James Agee was an American writer known for his poetry, novels, screenplays, and work as a film critic. His book of poems, Permit Me Voyage, appeared in 1934. With photographer Walker Evans, Agee lived among Alabama sharecroppers, an experience that led to his lyrical prose book, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.
Agee's autobiographical works include the novella The Morning Watch and the novel A Death in the Family, which won a Pulitzer Prize. From 1948, Agee worked as a film scriptwriter for The African Queen and The Night of the Hunter. His writings on cinema appear in Agee on Film and Agee on Film II.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What is the novel 'A Death in the Family' about?
A Death in the Family, a novel by James Agee, explores a family's response to the father's accidental death. Told through six-year-old Rufus Follet's eyes, the story explores conflicts within the family and society. Contrasting narratives link the past and present, with italicized passages depicting the family's life before the fatal car accident woven into the narrative of the crash and its aftermath.
Agee's autobiographical novel won a Pulitzer Prize in 1958 and was adapted into a play and film. A Death in the Family explores differences between black and white, rich and poor, country and city, and life and death.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did James Agee work with photographer Walker Evans?
James Agee and Walker Evans collaborated on Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, a study of three sharecropping families in Alabama during the Depression. Working for Fortune magazine in 1936, they lived among tenant farmers, but the article was never published. The book, released in 1941, uniquely combined Evans' photographs with Agee's lyrical prose, documenting the lives of those families and Agee's subjective reactions. Evans' photographs, with their reticent style, captured the families' homes, furniture, and land. Agee's text was full of extravagance and together they created a challenging book.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What important themes did Agee explore in his writings?
James Agee's writings delve into themes of poverty, social injustice, and the human condition, often with autobiographical elements. In Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Agee explores the lives of sharecroppers in Alabama, highlighting their plight and his subjective reactions. A Death in the Family examines a family's response to the sudden death of the father, portraying conflicts within the family and society, including disparities between black and white, rich and poor, and country and city life. Agee's works often incorporate contrasting narratives to connect the past and present.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How has James Agee influenced American literature and film?
James Agee significantly impacted American literature and film through his innovative approach to storytelling and criticism. As a film critic for Time and The Nation, Agee set high intellectual and aesthetic standards, influencing film appreciation. His book, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, which was co-authored with photographer Walker Evans, blended lyrical prose with social commentary, influencing documentary and literary styles. Agee's autobiographical novel, A Death in the Family, won a Pulitzer Prize and explored complex family and societal themes, solidifying his literary legacy. His screenwriting work on films like The African Queen and The Night of the Hunter further demonstrates his diverse influence on American storytelling.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
James Agee (born November 27, 1909, Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.—died May 16, 1955, New York, New York) was an American poet, novelist, and writer for and about motion pictures. One of the most influential American film critics in the 1930s and ’40s, he applied rigorous intellectual and aesthetic standards to his reviews, which appeared anonymously in Time and signed in The Nation.
Agee grew up in Tennessee’s Cumberland Mountain area, attended Harvard University, and wrote for Fortune and Time after he graduated in 1932. Permit Me Voyage, a volume of poems, appeared in 1934. For a proposed article in Fortune, Agee and the photographer Walker Evans lived for about six weeks among sharecroppers in Alabama in 1936. The article never appeared, but the material they gathered became a book, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941), illustrated by Evans and accompanied by lyrical prose in which Agee dealt with both the plight of the people and his subjective reaction to it.
Although his film criticism is not well-known, Agee’s lively intelligence and discerning wit make his reviews as pleasureable to read as any writing with more serious intent. Like the best critics, he wrote as a fellow viewer rather than as an insider with superior opinions. Among his enthusiasms were his deep appreciation for the artistry of older filmmakers such as Aleksandr Dovzhenko, Jean Vigo, and D.W. Griffith. Agee was exceptionally sentient on the films of John Huston, and most authorities believe that he single-handedly resurrected the silent comedies of actors such as Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton. Of the latter he wrote:
He used this great, sad, motionless face to suggest various related things: a one-track mind near the track’s end of pure insanity; mulish imperturbability under the wildest of circumstances; how dead a human being can get and still be alive; an awe-inspiring sort of patience and power to endure, proper to granite but uncanny in flesh and blood.
His lucid, well-crafted prose was peppered with judicious and keen wit. Reviewing the musical You Were Meant for Me (1948), he wrote the single sentence “That’s what you think.”
From 1948 until his death, Agee worked mainly as a film scriptwriter, notably for The African Queen (1951) and The Night of the Hunter (1955). His novel A Death in the Family (1957), which is about the effect of a man’s sudden death on his six-year-old son and the rest of his family, and his novella The Morning Watch (1951), on the religious experiences of a 12-year-old boy, are both autobiographical. A Death in the Family won a Pulitzer Prize, and it was adapted for the stage as All the Way Home (1960; filmed 1963). Agee’s other works include Agee on Film (1958, reissued in 2000 with a new introduction by David Denby), collected reviews; Agee on Film II (1960, reissued 1969), consisting of five film scripts; and Letters to Father Flye (1962), a collection of his letters to a former teacher and lifelong friend. The Collected Short Prose of James Agee was published in 1968.