Adult Book Discussion-Thursday 3/7

Join Elise Barack this coming Thursday, March 7 at 7:15 p.m. for a discussion of James Agee's classic novel, A Death in the Family.  We will meet in the Children's Programming Room.

A Death in the Family, received the Pulitzer Prize in 1958 when it was published posthumously. Agee’s protogee, Dwight MacDowell, was largely responsible for editing the incomplete, although nearly finished manuscript. Set in Knoxville, TN, the autobiographical novel focuses on the sudden death of a young father and it's impact on his grieving family.

 

James Agee was born on November 27, 1909.  He became a film critic for TIME magazine and The Nation in the 1940's. By the end of the decade, he had begun screenwriting, and went on to co-write the screenplays for The African Queen (1951) and The Night of the Hunter (1955). Agee died in New York City on May 16, 1955.
For more information on James Agee and A Death in the Family see these links:

Agee's Obituary in The New York Times

NoveList Plus - reviews
Modern American Literature - excerpts from contemporary reviews

More recently, A Death in the Family was re-edited by Michael Lofaro. He added 10 new chapters and arranged the story in chronological order.  Is it closer to the author's original intentions?  See a New York Times 2008 review of A Death in the Family: A Restoration of the Author’sText (University of Tennessee).