Grievous Angel: the unruly James Agee.(James Agee: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, A Death in the Family, and Shorter Fiction)(Critical Essay)(Biography)

Discussed in this essay:

James Agee: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, A Death in the Family, & Shorter Fiction, edited by Michael Sragow. Library of America, 2005. 818 pages. $35. James Agee: Film Writing and Selected Journalism, edited by Michael Sragow. Library of America, 2005. 748 pages. $40.

If he had been born a few years later, and if he hadn t died at the age of forty-five, James Agee (1909-55) might have had a chance of grabbing Terry Southern's spot--the literary maverick's spot, right next to Dylan Thomas--on the cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album.…