"Eclectic" is an adjective much used to describe Agee's work; other critics find such breadth of creation a sign of Agee's essentially restless nature and inability to focus. For still others Agee is, as Andrea Rosenwein pointed out in
Dictionary of Literary Biography, a "symbol of the artist struggling in a commercial society, pouring his talents into movie and book reviews instead of writing fiction." Rosenwein further noted, "Agee himself felt guilty about this, holding stringent standards for himself as an artist, yet succumbing to his desires for money and alcohol." The husband of three wives, and the father of four children, Agee poured a lot of living into his short life.
Agee--as is the case with many creative people--is many things to many different critics. Kenneth Seib, in his volume James Agee: Promise and Fulfillment, described his subject as "a versatile and accomplished artist whose mind played freely over all possible media of expression and whose ability with the English language was exceeded by none of his contemporaries." A "born, sovereign prince of the English language," is how critic Robert Phelps described Agee in the preface to a collection of the writer's letters to lifelong friend Father James Flye. Phelps also observed, however, that Agee was "a prodigal and unself-preserving man, who imparted his extraordinary gifts to many forms, from verse to novels, films scripts to book reviews, friendship to marriage." Writing in his critical study, James Agee, Victor A.
This is a free page. This page contains 200 words. This
biography contains 5,354 words (approx. 18 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our James Agee Access Pass.
