LETTERS OF JAMES AGEE TO FATHER FLYE

The first collection of letters by the author of A Death in the Family will be of special interest to the ever-growing number of Agee admirers. They are the outgrowth of a life-long friendship which began in 1919 when young Agee met Father Flye while attending St. Andrew's boarding school in Tennessee, and range over a variety of subjects from books and movies to impressions of fellow students, to views of education, social reform, Hollywood and the problems of the writer who is also head of a family. Spanning a period of thirty years, they contain the warmth and candor that characterizes so much of Agee's work. From the earliest letters Agee expresses his intense interest in writing, and it is evident that he wanted desperately to succeed. ""No earthly thing is more important to me than learning how to write."" At the same time, he was beset with recurring periods of depression. In one anguished letter he writes, ""I simply am not capable of being the kind of person, doing the kind of things, which I want."" From a reading of the letters Agee emerges as a warm human being with a deep commitment to life as a person and as a writer. It is a rewarding experience to make his acquaintance.