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Title: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee, Walker Evans ISBN: 0-618-12749-6 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 14 August, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.17 (18 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Incredible, but widely misunderstood work
Comment: Many people argue about Agee's complex text. The entire body of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is written in a kind of highly emotional euphoria in which Agee combines his own thoughts and perceptions with exhaustive description of the world around him. His intense feeling causes the writing to be, by conventional grammatical standards, virtually unreadable. Once the reader gets past his chapter-long sentences and widely varying themes, however, the book emerges as one of the greatest written accomplishments of the 20th century.
While the nominal subject of the documentary is an in-depth exploration of three tenant farming families during the Great Depression, the real project (and Agee himself admits this in his remarkably confessional prose) is the documentation of his own experience living with those farmers for several weeks--sleeping in their vermin-infested beds, eating their home-cooked food, and interacting with them on a human level. In addition, Agee self-consciously writes the text and explores the act of writing, both during his stay with the farmers and several years later, when he completed the vast majority of the book.
The final product is a patchwork book pieced together from Biblical prayer, Evans's photographs, Agee's flawless descriptions (which, in several cases, may be more accurate than Evans's probably manipulated prints) and meditations on writing, poverty, art, and day-to-day human experience. Two things make this work remarkable: Agee's honesty (he never claims to be objective or non-judgemental) and his innate talent for description. I approached this book with an open mind, and found it to be one of the most thoughtful and rewarding works I have ever read.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Famous Men Revisited: and other comments on James Agee
Comment: In one of the most edifying ways, James Agee illustrates the life of the Southern tenant sharecropper in the Great Depression. Agee's writings coupled with the eloquent photography of one notable Walker Evans, distinguishes the book in a elite category unparalleled by few if any whatsoever. The circumstances the sharecropper endured during the Depression not only working the land but also at home with family was rigorous and was additionally exposed very thoroughly in Agee's writings. The book is a must read for anyone interested in the History of the Great Depression era/New Dealism. One other book of notable mention for those interested is Larry Nelson's- KING COTTON'S ADVOCATE.
Rating: 3
Summary: A Puzzle to be piece together....
Comment: James Agee's book on the sharecroppers of the American south during the great depression is a book not to be taken lightly. I read this book for a college english class and I can honestly say that most people in the course including myself are confused by Agee's intent and purpose. Agee's highly lyrical and philosophical tone allows a deep analysis into the question of human existence in the depression south. Yet, the very scope and difficulty of his subject is expressed in his confused, perhaps confusing writing. There are lonely moments of insight stacked alongside pages of seemingly irrelevant and baseless speculation. I say seemingly because each time I re-read the passage I find that Agee's words have quite a bit more meaning than I had originally found. This book is not a novel, not journalism but a puzzle which Agee could not piece together. Only with time and care can the reader hope to understand the frustratingly complex yet real message of Agee's work.
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Title: Walker Evans: Photographs for the Farm Security Administration, 1935-1938: A Catalog of Photographic Prints Available from the Farm Security Admini by Walker Evans, Library Of Congress ISBN: 030680008X Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: May, 1988 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: You Have Seen Their Faces by Erskine Caldwell, Margaret Bourke-White ISBN: 082031692X Publisher: University of Georgia Press Pub. Date: January, 1995 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: A Death in the Family by James Agee ISBN: 0375701230 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 28 July, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Walker Evans : Masters of Photography by Walker Evans, Lloyd Fonvielle ISBN: 0893817414 Publisher: Aperture Pub. Date: 30 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.50 |
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Title: Doing Documentary Work (New York Public Library Lectures in Humanities) by Robert Coles ISBN: 0195124952 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: September, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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