| Twelve Years: An American Boyhood in East Germany Contributor(s): Agee, Joel (Author) |
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ISBN: 0226010503 ISBN-13: 9780226010502 Publisher: University of Chicago Press OUR PRICE: $32.67 Product Type: Paperback Published: June 2000 Annotation: Joel Agee, the son of James Agee, was raised for twelve years in East Germany, where his stepfather, the novelist Bodo Uhse, was a member of the privileged communist intelligentsia. This is the story of how young Joel failed to become a good communist, becoming instead a fine writer. "A wonderfully evocative memoir. . . . Agee evoked for me the atmosphere of postwar Berlin more vividly than the actual experience of it--and I was there." --Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, "New York Times" "One of those rare personal memoirs that brings to life a whole country and an epoch." --Christopher Isherwood "Twelve Years consists of a series of finely honed anecdotes written in a precise, supple prose rich with sensual detail." --David Ghitelman, "Newsday" "By turns poetic and picturesque, Agee energetically catalogues his expatriate passage to manhood with a pinpoint eye and a healthy American distaste for pretension. . . . Huckleberry Finn would have . . . welcomed [him] as a soulmate on the raft." --J. D. Reed, "Time" "A triumph. . . . Unfettered by petty analysis or quick explanations, a story that is timeless and ageless and vital." --Robert Michael Green, "Baltimore Sun" |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography - History | Europe - Germany |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 99086396 |
| Physical Information: 0.82" H x 5.71" W x 8.55" (0.84 lbs) 334 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 20th Century - Cultural Region - Germany - Topical - Adolescence/Coming of Age |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Joel Agee, the son of James Agee, was raised for twelve years in East Germany, where his stepfather, the novelist Bodo Uhse, was a member of the privileged communist intelligentsia. This is the story of how young Joel failed to become a good communist, becoming instead a fine writer. A wonderfully evocative memoir. . . . Agee evoked for me the atmosphere of postwar Berlin more vividly than the actual experience of it--and I was there. --Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times One of those rare personal memoirs that brings to life a whole country and an epoch. --Christopher Isherwood Twelve Years consists of a series of finely honed anecdotes written in a precise, supple prose rich with sensual detail. --David Ghitelman, Newsday By turns poetic and picturesque, Agee energetically catalogues his expatriate passage to manhood with a pinpoint eye and a healthy American distaste for pretension. . . . Huckleberry Finn would have . . . welcomed [him] as a soulmate on the raft. --J. D. Reed, Time A triumph. . . . Unfettered by petty analysis or quick explanations, a story that is timeless and ageless and vital. --Robert Michael Green, Baltimore Sun |
Contributor Bio(s): Agee, Joel: - Joel Agee has translated numerous German authors into English, including Heinrich von Kleist, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Elias Canetti. In 2005 he received the Modern Language Association s Lois Roth Award for his translation of Hans Erich Nossack s "The End: Hamburg 1943". |