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James Rufus Agee

ジェームズ・ルーファス・エイジー

James Rufus Agee

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1909-11-27 （Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.）
Died
1955-05-16 （New York City, U.S.） age 45
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Knoxville, Tennessee (birthplace and childhood) → Rockland, Maine (family residence) → New Hampshire (attended Phillips Exeter Academy) → Cambridge, Massachusetts (attended Harvard University) → New York City (adult residence and work base) → Hillsdale, New York (owned farm; burial site) → Santa Barbara, California (temporary residence; site of earlier heart attack)

Career

Occupations
novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter, film critic
Active Years
1932-1955
Affiliations
Time (magazine), Fortune (magazine), The Nation (magazine), Life Magazine
Influenced By
Walker Evans, Robert Hillyer, I. A. Richards, Father James Harold Flye, Archibald MacLeish
Influenced
Aaron Copland (composer), Samuel Barber (composer), David Simon (journalist, screenwriter), later film critics and nonfiction writers

Education

Phillips Exeter Academy
Period: 1924–1928
Year of Graduation: 1928
Country: United States
Attended as a boarding student; entered class of 1928.
Harvard University
Harvard College
Degree: BA
Period: 1928–1932
Year of Graduation: 1932
Country: United States
Editor-in-chief of the Harvard Advocate; delivered the class ode at commencement.

Awards

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
1958
Work: A Death in the Family
Category: フィクション
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: 受賞
Yale Series of Younger Poets (selection)
1934
Work: Permit Me Voyage
Category: 詩
Organization: Yale University Press
Result: 選出

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Three Tenant Families

1941 Nonfiction / Literary reportage

A literary reportage documenting three tenant families in Alabama, accompanied by Walker Evans's photographs; explores poverty, dignity, and the ethics of representation.

povertydignitylaborthe American Southobservation and representation
Adaptations
  • [Opera] The Tender Land (inspired work) / Aaron Copland (1954)

A Death in the Family

1957 Novel / Autobiographical novel

An autobiographical novel based on Agee's childhood and his father's death; published posthumously in 1957 and awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1958.

familydeathlossmemoryfaith
Adaptations
  • [Play] All the Way Home (play) / Tad Mosel (1960)

Permit Me Voyage

1934 Poetry collection

A collection of poems published in the Yale Series of Younger Poets; some pieces were later set to music by composers.

memorynaturenightmortality
Adaptations
  • [Art song] Sure On This Shining Night (song) / Samuel Barber (1938)

The African Queen (screenplay)

1951 Screenplay / Film

Credited as one of the screenwriters for the 1951 film adaptation of C. S. Forester's novel 'The African Queen'.

adventurefaith and redemptionhuman relationships
Adaptations
  • [Film] The African Queen / John Huston (1951)

The Night of the Hunter (screenplay)

1955 Screenplay / Film

Agee is credited on the 1955 film adapted from Davis Grubb's novel; the extent of his contribution was debated, but his early draft demonstrates substantial input.

religious hypocrisyviolencegood vs. evil
Adaptations
  • [Film] The Night of the Hunter / Charles Laughton (1955)

Cotton Tenants: Three Families

2013 Nonfiction / Posthumous manuscript

A previously unpublished manuscript from Agee's 1936 Fortune assignment, discovered and published in 2013; considered an alternate draft to Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.

laborpovertydocumentary-style reportage

Bibliography

  • 1934 Permit Me Voyage
  • 1935 Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (prose poem)
  • 1941 Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
  • 1951 The Morning Watch
  • 1957 A Death in the Family
  • 1958 Agee on Film
  • 1960 Agee on Film II
  • 1962 Letters of James Agee to Father James Harold Flye
  • 1968 The Collected Poems of James Agee
  • 2005 Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, A Death in the Family, & Shorter Fiction (collected)
  • 2013 Cotton Tenants: Three Families

Adaptations

  • Play 'All the Way Home' (adaptation of A Death in the Family)
  • Film 'The African Queen' (1951) (screenplay credit)
  • Film 'The Night of the Hunter' (1955) (screenplay credit)
  • Documentary 'AGEE' (1979)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
autobiographical and lyrical prosefusion of journalism and literary writingdetailed observation and poetic description
Recurring Motifs
family and father–son relationshipsdeath and losspoverty and laborchildhood and memoryreligion and conscience

Health

  • Alcoholism
    主に1940年代後半から1950年代
    Curtailed screenwriting opportunities and affected professional reliability.
  • Heart disease (heart attacks)
    1951（心臓発作）–1955（死亡）
    Suffered a heart attack in 1951; died of a fatal heart attack in 1955 while en route to a doctor's appointment.

Legacy

Although only modestly recognized during his lifetime, Agee's reputation grew after his death; A Death in the Family won the 1958 Pulitzer Prize. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is regarded as a major 20th-century work and has influenced music, film, and theater.

Museums

  • James Agee Park (Knoxville) Fort Sanders neighborhood, Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.

Archives

  • James Agee Collection, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin
  • Archives of Appalachia, East Tennessee State University (photographic collection)

In Popular Culture

  • The documentary 'AGEE' (1979) was nominated for an Academy Award and presents Agee's life and work.
  • Stage works such as 'The Man Who Lives Here Is Loony' use Agee as a subject or character.
  • Composers set Agee's texts to music, notably Samuel Barber's 'Knoxville: Summer of 1915'.

Quotes

  • ... few American films ever manage really to specify a character or a situation so that either can achieve personal life or general applicability; people merely dance their way, more or less ingratiatingly, through a sequence of windy generalizations.
    Source: Agee on Film (film criticism, c.1947) (1947)

Trivia

  • His father died in a car accident when Agee was six; this event underlies A Death in the Family.
  • Let Us Now Praise Famous Men initially sold poorly and was remaindered, but later became highly regarded.
  • Permit Me Voyage was published in the Yale Series of Younger Poets.
  • Samuel Barber and other composers set Agee's texts to music.
  • Places in Knoxville (streets, park) commemorate Agee's name.