Autobiographical novel characteristics

A Death in the Family

novel by James Agee

This article is about the James Agee novel.

Fictive autobiography definition literature review Is this how she really feels about her sister? S2CID And most importantly, are these labels necessary or important to telling a good story? Because we apprehend reality through culturally determined types, we can report the most particular event only in the form of a representational fiction" Scholes

For the Batman storyline, see A Death in the Family (comics). For other uses, see A Death in the Family (disambiguation).

A Death in the Family is an autobiographical novel by James Agee. It was based on events which occurred to Agee in , when his father went out of town to see his own father, who had suffered a heart attack.

During the return trip, Agee's father was killed in a car crash.

Premise

The novel provides a portrait of life in Knoxville, Tennessee, showing how such a loss affects the young widow, her two children, her atheist father and the deceased alcoholic brother.

Background

Agee commenced work on the novel in It was still incomplete at the time of his death in Reputedly, many portions had been written in the home of his friend Frances Wickes.^[1]

Publication

It was edited and released posthumously in by editor David McDowell.

Agee's widow and children were left with little money after Agee's death and McDowell wanted to help them by publishing the work.

Autobiography examples

Fictive autobiography definition literature summary

Autobiography sentence examples

Earlier draft

University of Tennessee professor Michael Lofaro maintains that the novel as published in was not the version intended for print by the author. Lofaro discussed his work at a conference that was part of the Knoxville James Agee Celebration (April ). Having tracked down the author's original manuscripts and notes, Lofaro reconstructed a version he considers more authentic.

This version, entitled A Death in the Family: A Restoration of the Author's Text, was published in as part of the volume set The Collected Works of James Agee (University of Tennessee Press).

Fictive autobiography definition literature Any attempt to describe a substantial portion of a human life must result in narrative, because each life is essentially a matter of linear development through time. Oxford University Press. For sale: baby shoes, never worn. Tools Tools.

Lofaro is also the author of Agee Agonistes: Essays on the Life, Legend, and Works of James Agee ().

According to Lofaro, McDowell's alterations include:

The removal of the original opening, a nightmare scene, and its substitution with "Knoxville: Summer of ," a previously published short work of Agee's that was not intended as part of the novel.
A reordering of the presentation of events, which were originally shown in chronological order.
Chapters were removed.
Chapters were divided.
Certain chapters were moved and presented as flashbacks.
The number of chapters was changed from forty-four short chapters to twenty.

Critical reception and awards

Agee won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in for the novel.

The novel was included on Time's List of the Best Novels released between and ^[2]

Adaptations

The novel was adapted into All the Way Home by Tad Mosel. The play won a Pulitzer Prize.

Fictive autobiography definition literature examples They argue that the book constructs writing just as the autobiography constructs life. For information of autobiographies on Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Autobiography. Typically pseudonymous , they were and are largely works of fiction written by ghostwriters. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin.

A film entitled All The Way Home (), adapted by Philip H. Reisman, Jr. from the Agee novel and the Mosel play, was filmed in the same Knoxville neighborhood where Agee grew up.

A TV-movie presentation of All the Way Home, starring Joanne Woodward and Richard Kiley aired on NBC in as a presentation of the Hallmark Hall of Fame.

A live version of the play aired on television in starring Sally Field and William Hurt. It was broadcast live on NBC from the Bing Theatre on the campus of the University of Southern California.

A TV movie adaptation filmed in Tennessee and starring Annabeth Gish, aired on PBS in ^[3]

Samuel Barber wrote Knoxville: Summer of (, revised ) on commission from the American sopranoEleanor Steber, who had asked for a work for soprano with orchestra.

William Mayer wrote an opera based on the novel; it premiered in ^[4]

A stage musical debuted in titled Knoxville, written Frank Galati with music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. A "universal coming-of-age story about family, faith and love—and the boy who will grow up to write it.

Autobiography synonyms Biblical typology posited a system of interpretation in which characters, events, and sacred objects of the Old Testament prefigured Christ or some aspect of Christian doctrine. Samson destroying the Philistine temple, for example, might typify Christ destroying the forces of evil through his death on the cross, but he could also typify the Christian believer who, in battle with evil, triumphs but suffers greatly because of his ordeal. Autobiography is devalued because it is seen as easy—a mere transcription of real life events, requiring little imagination, while fiction is vaunted because it is seen as stemming magically from the ether of imagination. The spiritual autobiography often serves as an endorsement of the writer's religion.

With a sweeping musical score blending folk, bluegrass and ballads." Knoxville was in rehearsals for its world premiere at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in but was forced to stop because of the pandemic. The show had its world premiere in ^[5]