James Paul Gee Books

Between 1936 and 1941 Walker Evans and James Agee collaborated on one of the most provocative books in American literature, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941). While at work on this book, the two also conceived another less well-known but equally important book project entitled Many Are Called. This three-year photographic study of subway passengers made with a hidden camera was first published in 1966, with an introduction written by Agee in 1940. Long out of print, Many Are Called is now being reissued with a new foreword and afterword and with exquisitely reproduced images from newly prepared digital scans.Many Are Called came to fruition at a slow pace. In 1938, Walker Evans began surreptitiously photographing people on the New York City subway. With his camera hidden in his coat—the lens peeking through a buttonhole—he captured the faces of riders hurtling through the dark tunnels, wrapped in their own private thoughts. By 1940-41, Evans had made over six hundred photographs and had begun to edit the series. The book remained unpublished until 1966 when The Museum of Modern Art mounted an exhibition of Evans’s subway portraits.This beautiful new edition—published in the centenary year of the NYC subway—is an essential book for all admirers of Evans’s unparalleled photographs, Agee’s elegant prose, and the great City of New York.

James Agee's film criticism, renowned for its moral insight and sharp wit, established him as a pivotal literary figure in mid-20th century America. Celebrated by contemporaries like W. H. Auden, his reviews for The Nation and Time are compiled in this volume, showcasing his profound influence on American film writing. The collection not only includes classic critiques but also features previously uncollected works on iconic figures and films, such as Ingrid Bergman and Hitchcock's Lifeboat, enriching the understanding of Agee's cinematic perspectives.

Exploring the intersection of video games, learning, and literacy, this book delves into how gaming fosters pleasure, mastery, and a sense of agency. It addresses the complex relationships between values, identity, and educational content, highlighting the varied experiences young people have in both gaming and traditional schooling. Additionally, it tackles controversial issues surrounding games, providing insights into how they can enhance learning and engagement.

Focusing on the methodology of discourse analysis, this comprehensive toolkit equips students with essential techniques for their research. The updated edition reflects recent advancements in digital communication, ensuring relevance in today's context. With contemporary examples, it serves as an invaluable resource for both advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students looking to deepen their understanding of discourse analysis.

Set during the early hours of Good Friday, the narrative follows twelve-year-old Richard in a Tennessee church school, capturing his profound inner journey amidst the awakening of spring. Agee skillfully reveals Richard's religious exaltation and childhood musings without descending into sentimentality. The novel's tone and imagery evoke a dark, poetic quality, exploring the intertwined nature of good and evil, beauty and absurdity. With its blend of clarity and dreamlike complexity, this work stands out for its perceptive lyricism, earning its status as a minor classic.

Agee's colleague at Time in the 1940s, John Hersey, writes a major evaluation of Agee's work and the Agee legend in a new introduction to this literary classic. 64 pages of photos.

The textbook offers an in-depth exploration of discourse analysis, featuring updated content and fresh examples. A standout addition in this edition is a new chapter dedicated to multimodal discourse analysis, showcasing how the author's methodology extends to texts that integrate language with visual or audiovisual elements. This comprehensive guide serves as an essential resource for understanding communication in various forms.

On a sultry summer night in 1915, Jay Follet leaves his house in Knoxville, Tennessee, to tend to his father, whom he believes is dying. The summons turns out to be a false alarm, but on his way back to his family, Jay has a car accident and is killed instantly, leaving his wife, brother, and young son to deal with his sudden death

In a sweeping synthesis of new research in a number of different disciplines, this book argues that we humans are not who we think we are. As he explores the interconnections between cutting-edge work in bioanthropology, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, human language and learning, and beyond, James Paul Gee advances, also, a personal philosophy of language, learning, and culture, informed by his decades of work across linguistics and the social sciences. Gee argues that our schools, institutions, legal systems, and societies are designed for creatures that do not exist, thus resulting in multiple, interacting crises, such as climate change, failing institutions, and the rise of nationalist nationalism. As Gee constructs an understanding of the human that takes into account our social, collective, and historical nature, as established by recent research, he inspires readers to reflect for themselves on the very question of who we are—a key consideration for anyone interested in society, government, schools, health, activism, culture and diversity, or even just survival.

"Einen verdammt guten Heiligen würde ich abgeben, sagte er zu sich; und fügte mit kalter und gleichzeitig milder Selbstverachtung zu dem Stapel von Sünden, die er bald beichten mußte, hinzu: Ich habe in der Marienkapelle in Gegenwart des Allerheiligsten geflucht."

James Agee durchwandert schreibend Brooklyn: von den alten Stadtteilen im Nordwesten mit ihren Backsteinhäusern über die Brooklyn Bridge und durch die Arbeiterviertel bis in die Hinterhöfe. Er dringt in Wohnzimmer ein, lässt sich in einem Kinosaal nieder, beschreibt Straßenszenen und mit wenigen Sätzen ganze Menschenleben. Durch alles scheinen die historischen Schichten hindurch – und mit der genauen Schilderung noch der nebensächlichsten Details formt sich ein großer Gesang. Ein Text, der das Wesen eines Stadtviertels erfasst und bis heute nichts von seiner Kraft und Wahrheit verloren hat. Das Porträt Brooklyns, 1938 im Auftrag des »Fortune Magazine« geschrieben, erschien aufgrund künstlerischer Differenzen erst 1968 und ist inzwischen ein Klassiker der New-York-Literatur.

»Keine Zeit verschwenden für Geschichte, Figurenentwicklung etc.; man ist von Anfang an mittendrin: im Leben selbst statt in seiner Beschreibung.« Mit hemmungsloser Wucht hat James Agee sich in die amerikanische Literatur des 20. Jahrhunderts eingeschrieben. Durch seine Kompromisslosigkeit riskierte er immer wieder, nicht veröffentlicht zu werden – wie etwa bei »Brooklyn ist«, mittlerweile ein Klassiker der New-York-Literatur, der in diesem Band ebenso enthalten ist wie Erzählungen, Prosaskizzen, Entwürfe. Nichts Geringeres als einen »Angriff auf das Allgemeine durch den Einzelfall« wollte Agee führen: mit einer Literatur ohne Rückendeckung, zwischen überscharfem Tatsachenbericht, entblößender Parodie und klassischer short story, die sich voller Emphase selbst aufs Spiel setzt und in Filmskizzen und Plänen für Bücher ganz anderer Art neue Wirklichkeiten sucht. Ein Schlüsseldokument ist der ideensprühende Stipendiumsantrag »Projekte; Oktober 1937«: ein noch im 21. Jahrhundert Staunen erweckendes Porträt des Schriftstellers als medienkünstlerischer Avantgardist und eine wahre Fundgrube an Ideen, die man sich sofort jede einzeln ausgeführt wünscht.