{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.021668971876440755, 'fraction_numerical': 0.013370216689718764, 'mean_word_length': 4.849056603773585, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
The Manuscript and the Text of James Agee's "A Death in the Family"

COLLATION of the composite manuscript of Agee's un finished, posthumously published novel A Death in the Family (1957) reveals that substantial errors exist in its text. Fur ther, such study indicates the complexity of the editorial procedure which was demanded by the autograph manuscript. The fundamental reason for the present article is to provide a listing of definite errors which have been incorporated into the text. But the note also demon strates the varieties of editorial decision necessitated by the problem atic pencil holograph.1 In addition to problems of regularizing spelling and punctuation Agee's editors were confronted with many variants from which they chose the final text.2 Sometimes passages of several words were omitted. In other instances whole sections of manuscript were omitted from the novel. In each place where a substantial portion of manu script was omitted, it was either a fragmentary portion, or it was a passage which would have conflicted with the balance of the book. Such conflict may have been either a consideration of tone, in relation to the rest of the manuscript, or the existence of a more complete ver sion which had already been chosen for incorporation. The unused chapter "Surprise," appearing as part of a group of Agee manuscripts recently published in the Texas Quarterly, illustrates how a near finished piece of writing was rejected because it conflicted with an 1 The composite autograph manuscript working draft for A Death in the Family (New York: McDowell Obolensky, Inc., 1957) is in the library of the University of Texas. It consists of 201 autograph pages; and there are an additional 120 pages of variant manu script. Of this variant manuscript 98 pages are duplicate, alternate or fragmentary pages for the novel; the remaining 23 pages constitute a series of notes and summary of Agee's plans for the work. This material is used with the permission of the James Agee Trust. 2 Catalogued: A death in the family: Composite autograph manuscript working draft with autograph emendations 201 pp. c. 194.8, University of Texas Library.