[Leica] Cotton Tenants

[pswango at att.net (Phil Swango)]

Probably most Luggers are familiar with the iconic book "Let Us Now
Praise Famous Men," the depression-era chronicle of southern poverty,
by Walker Evans and James Agee. The photos by Evans are among his best
known, but Agee's dense text could be a challenge to some readers. The
back story here is that Fortune magazine, who funded the project,
decided against using Agee's original reportage and the piece never
appeared in the mag. The book was the eventual result.

But what happened to the original manuscript?  It apparently
disappeared after Agee's early death at age 45, but surprisingly
turned up in 2003, when Agee's old residence was cleaned out by one of
his daughters, and was finally published last year by Melville House
as "Cotton Tenants."  I recently received it as a gift and am finding
it to be a fascinating read. In stylish prose, Agee details much of
the daily lives of the three families featured in "Famous Men" in a
way that really augments Evans' pictures.  Just to be clear, the
writing in "Cotton Tenants" is completely different from the text of
"Famous Men."

More here: http://www.mhpbooks.com/books/cotton-tenants/




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