Sunday Feature

An American Legend: James Agee

Sunday 20 April 2008 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)

Blake Morrison visits Agee's hometown in Tennessee and follows in his footsteps to Alabama to re-appraise this 'sovereign prince of the English language'.

Described as 'probably the most charismatic man alive', he looked like James Dean, lived hard and was dead by the age of 45. His account of the lives of poor white farmers in 1930s Alabama, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, is an exquisitely difficult classic, his film criticism set the standard in 1940s America, and his posthumously published novel, A Death in the Family, won the Pulitzer Prize. So why is the work of James Agee so little known here?

With contributions from Agee's children and biographers.

Duration:

45 minutes

Sunday Feature

Episode and Playlist Information

• 27 Apr 08 The Splintered City
• 20 Apr 08 James Agee
• 13 Apr 08 Homer's Landscapes
• 6 Apr 08 Homer's Landscapes
• 30 Mar 08 Homer's Landscapes
• 23 Mar 08 Rites of Spring
• 16 Mar 08 Raymond Williams

Sunday Feature pages