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 The
leading American essayist and literary stylist of his time. White
is known for his crisp, graceful, style. "No one can write a sentence
like White." James Thurber once wrote. White's stories ranged from
satire to children's fiction. While he often wrote from the perspective
of a slightly ironic onlooker, he is also a sensitive spokesman
for the freedom of the individual. Among his most enduring essays
is 'Once More to the Lake'.
"I am the holder of a quit-claim deed recorded in Book 682,
Page 501, in the country where I live. I hold Fire Insurance Policy
Number 424747, continuing until the 23 day of October in the year
nineteen hundred forty-five, at noon, and it is important that
the written portions of all policies covering the same property
read exactly alike."
(from 'About Myself', 1945)
E.B. White was born in Mount Vernon, New York, the son of a prosperous
piano manufacturer. After service as an Army private in 1918, he
entered Cornell University and graduated in 1921. White worked in
some miscellaneous jobs, such as a reporter for United Press, the
American Legion News Service, and the Seattle Times. In 1924
he returned to New York. He worked as a production assistant and
advertising copywriter before joining the newly established New
Yorker. There he met his wife, Katherine Sergeant Angell, who
was the magazine's literary editor. They married in 1929. For 11
years he wrote for the magazine editorial essays and contributed
verse and other pieces. Among the writers with whom White and his
wife become friends at the New Yorker were Dorothy Parker,
Robert Benchley, James Thurber, and Stephen Leacock.
"Walden is the only book I own, although there are some others
unclaimed on my shelves. Every man, I think, reads one book in
his life, and this one is mine. It is not the best book I ever
encountered, perhaps, but it is for me the handiest, and I keep
it about me in much the same way one carries a handkerchief -
for relief in moments of defluxion or despair."
(White in The New Yorker, May 23, 1953)
 From
1929 White worked for The New Yorker's weekly magazine, remaining
on its staff for the rest of his career. Among White's central themes
are the complexities of modern society, the failures of technological
progress, the pleasures of urban and rural life, war, and internationalism.
He was sceptical about organized religion, and advocated a respect
for nature and simple living. From 1938 to 1943 he wrote and edited
a column called 'One Man's Meat' for Harper's magazine. These
collected essays, featuring White's rural experiences, were published
in 1942. Critics hailed this as White's best book to date, but he
gained wide fame with the publication of IS SEX NECESSARY? which
he wrote with his friend and colleague James Thurber. In 1941 he
published with Katherine Sergeant Angell A SUBTREASURY OF AMERICAN
HUMOUR.
White's early collections of poetry, THE LADY IS COLD (1929) and
THE FOX OF PEAPACK AND OTHER POEMS (1928) reflect his interest in
"the small things of the day" and "the trivial matters of the heart."
In 1939 he moved to a farm in North Brooklyn, Maine, and continued
his writing career without the obligations of a regular job. White
published a standard style manual for writing, THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE
(1959), which become a mainstay of high school and college English
courses in the U.S. His children's books include STUART LITTLE (1945),
depicting an independent and adventurous mouse born into a human
family, CHARLOTTE'S WEB (1952), the story of the friendship between
a young pig and a spider, who craftily saves him from the butcher's
knife only to die alone, and THE TRUMPET OF THE SWAN (1970). In
these works White explores such themes as salvation, friendship,
and rural living and they have become for many young readers unforgettable
guides to the world of fiction. After World War II White became
an enthusiastic editorial supporter of internationalism and the
United Nations, publishing a collection of essays under the title
THE WILD FLAG (1946).
 E.B.
White died of Alzheimer disease on October 1, 1985 in North Brooklyn,
Maine. He was awarded the gold medal for essays and criticism of
the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and a Pulitzer Prize
special citation in 1978. He held honorary degrees from seven American
colleges and universities and was a member of the American Academy.
For further reading: E. B. White: The Emergence of an
Essayist by Robert L., Jr. Root (1999); E.B. White: The Children's
Books by Lucien L. Agosta (1995); E.B. White The Elements of a
Writer by Janice Tingum (1995); Critical Essays on E.B. White,
ed. by R.L. Root (1994); E.B. White: Some Writer! by Beverly Gherman
(1992); E.B. White: A Biography by S. Elledge (1984); Hugging
the Shore by J. Updike (1983); E.B. White by E. Sampson (1974)
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