Project4 assignment1

Ned Ukrop Writing 101/Hillard Project 4/Assignment 1

Artistic Non-Fiction Writing: an Account of Agee’s Aesthetic Interests

In his novel, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, James Agee often uses aesthetically pleasing, artistic writing to describe tenant farmers during the Great Depression. His descriptive style in this non-fiction work is definitely different from a more traditional approach, as some of his descriptions appear more poetic than what is typical. I believe Agee has every right to embrace both artistic and rhetoric goals in his depiction of the tenant farmers. These artistic descriptions bridge the gap between the reader and the poor situation Agee experienced first hand . In my opinion, a more standard approach to Let Us Now Praise Famous Men without artistic aspect would not have sufficiently fulfilled the economic and political interests at hand .

Various critics, however, would disagree with my opinion and instead argue that Agee’s artistic goals interfere with the ultimate goal of the non-fiction work .

Instead of accurately depicting the horrid situation in the South during the Depression, critics of Agee may claim his poetic writing is not socially just towards the poor families. One of their arguments that they would probably make is that the beautiful writing Agee uses undermines the horrid situation these families were experiencing . In response, I would argue that Agee in no way is attempting to make light of a bad

situation, but instead uses artistic descriptions in order to better explain the situation .

Another criticism of Agee could be that his aesthetic goals are for the sole purpose of gaining more literary respect. Instead of writing a boring account of the tenant farmers, people may view Agee’s artistic style as selfish or conceited . In response to this statement, I would argue that he is primarily interested in telling the stories of the tenant farmers, and he believes an artistic approach is the best way to do so . Although there are plenty of critics, it seems clear to me that Agee’s artistic interests are present in order to best portray the current economic and political situation .

In order to assert my claim, I believe it is necessary to observe Let Us Now Praise Famous Men in its historical context. Commissioned by Fortune Magazine, Agee and Walker set out on a tip to the rural South. The goal was to give an accurate depiction of the life of tenant farmers in their families living in the South during the Great Depression. Therefore, he was faced with two options: either write a objective, boring account of the lives of these hard working men and women or use artistic and aesthetic means to enrich the writing. This enrichment that Agee decides to pursue makes the work unique, memorable, and allows for connections to be made between the reader and the subject. For example, in a description of overalls, Agee depicts what he called the American working man’s uniform as a work of art, commenting on the geometry and beautiful contrast of color: And on this façade, the cloven halls for legs, the strong-seamed, structured opening for the genitals, the broad horizontal at the waist, the slant thigh pockets, the buttons at the point of each hip and on the breast, the geometric structures of the usages of the simpler trades – the complexed seams of

utilitarian pockets which are so brightly picked out against darkness when the seam-threadings, double and triple stitched, are still white, so that a new suit of overalls has among its beauties those of a blueprint: and they are a map of a working man.1 Instead of simply noting the existence of the popular overalls, Agee dives into an elaborate artistic account of them. This is a perfect example of Agee’s aesthetic interests aiding his argument. Although he makes a disclaimer he cannot quite do the overalls justice, he spends a page and a half of text in order to allow the reader to experience them just as he did. Agee’s artistic description of the tenant farmer’s clothing keep the subjects from looking strange or foreign, as an attempt to familiarize the reader with the subjects as much as possible.

Agee has several other instances where he uses rather artistic language to describe mundane things. Once again, his aesthetic interests only compliment the overall goals of the novel. One scene in particular, Agee describes the front of a house and is especially interested in the contrast between shadows on the house and the details of the wood: It stands just sufficiently short of vertical that every leaf of shingle, at its edges, and very edge of horizontal plank (blocked, at each center, with squared verticals) is a most black and cutting ink: and every surface struck with light is thus: such an intensity and splendor of silver in the silver light, it seems to burn, and burns and blinds into the eyes almost as snow; yet in none of that burnishment or blazing whereby detail is lost: each texture in the wood, like those of bone, is distinct in the eye as a razor: each nail-head is distinct .2 Clearly, Agee’s description of a very basic, rural house is very elaborate and detailed.

Some critics believe that this is unfair to the tenant farmers, in this case the Gudgers, 1 Agee, 235 2 Ibid., 125.

because what Agee describes in a beautiful manner is a really just a rundown shack made of cheap wood. In response to this argument, I believe that the aesthetic description of the “shack� provides a clearer image to readers so they can experience it as closely as possible.