Monday, July 9, 2012
Praising James Agee
Over at Open Letters, Liza Birnbaum offers an appreciation of James Agee and in particular of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, which, despite its anti-art bias, is perhaps the most artistically ambitious chronicle ever written by an American writer.Unfortunately, Liza's piece does not address the topic of how influential Agee was as a stylist. How clearly and completely many passages in the Agee book anticipated by about 20 years Jack Kerouac's more celebrated style is, by itself, worthy of at least a lengthy essay. The old influence-anxiety may have led Kerouac to conceal or "forget" Agee's impact.
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well yea, the similarity of style is apparent. Reading Agee, I immediately thought of Kerouac maybe getting "influenced". Kerouac does take it to a higher level. Agee chronicles great detail, Kerouac paints mind pictures
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