When it first appeared in 1945, this novel disconcerted a good many critics: Agee Ward, "the man who was there" of the title, ostensibly is the man who is not there--a member of the armed forces in World War II, he has been reported missing in action. Yet as we are shown various views of Agee and how he continues to affect the lives of others--among them Grandma Herkimer and Private Reagan, who knew him in boyhood; Peter Spavic and Mrs. Krickbaum, who refuse to believe that he is missing; Miss Gussie Newcomb, his landlady and (to her surprise) his heir--we come to perceive what Agee had in mind when he said "that anything really alive just went on and on."
- ISBN10 0803208812
- ISBN13 9780803208810
- Publish Date 1 January 1977
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 30 September 1998
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of Nebraska Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 277
- Language English