Spanning the years 1925, when Agee was only sixteen, until his premature death in May 1955, this collection shows the author in moods mostly reflective. He meanders, obfuscates, muses, complains, gently argues and shares art he's experienced, all in often poetic letters to the man who became, in effect, a father figure to him, Episcopal priest Father James Harold Flye. Neophytes to Agee's work will want to first read his essential texts (A Death in the Family, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, etc.), but for the Agee completest, this 1962 book, which includes notes and an introductory essay by Flye, will fulfill a desire to better understand the artist, his thinking processes and struggles between the freedom to create versus financial responsibilities.
