Book description
I>, and by White's other classics, testifies to his deep
understanding of the human condition.
Bringing readers into intimate contact with E. B. White's world, Michael
Sims chronicles his animal-rich youth and dreams of being a writer; the
vibrant early years of the New Yorker
,where urban nature was White's ever-present theme; the discovery of the
farm in Maine where he and his wife would live; his fascinating
scientific research into how spiders spin webs, lay eggs, and live in
the world; his friendship with his legendary editor, Ursula Nordstrom;
and the luminous creative process that led to publication of his masterpiece.
By refining the raw ore of his childhood in Mount Vernon, New York, in
the first decade of the twentieth century, White translated his own
passions and contradictions, delights and fears, into a book that would
be read the world over. The Story of Charlotte's Web
illuminates the life of a literary icon, and will add richness and
appreciation for anyone who has loved, or has yet to read, a cherished
classic. I>, E. B. White was obeying that oft-repeated maxim: 'Write
what you know.' Helpless pigs, silly geese,clever spiders, greedy rats -
White knew all of these characters in the barns and stables where he
spent his favourite hours as child and adult. Painfully shy, White once
wrote of himself 'this boy felt for animals a kinship he never felt for
people'. Nonetheless, that tens of millions have been so moved by
Charlotte's WebCharlotte's Web<
'Another marvellous adventure uniting nature and
human knowledge and imagination ... clear, focused and accessible'
Library Journal on Apollo's Fire 'An entertaining, witty and erudite
jackdaw's nest of a book. Sims seems not only to have read everything,
the trivial as well as the lofty, but to have remembered all of it.
The range of reference is dizzying' John Banville, New York Times Book
Review on Adam's Navel 'Sims, editor of this brilliant collection,
gathers stories of the undead written during what he loosely terms the
Victorian era... An excellent addition to popular fiction and
literature collections' Library Journal on Dracula's Guest (starred
review)
I>, and by White's other classics, testifies to his
deep understanding of the human condition.
Bringing readers into intimate contact with E. B. White's world,
Michael Sims chronicles his animal-rich youth and dreams of being a
writer; the vibrant early years of the New Yorker,where urban
nature was White's ever-present theme; the discovery of the farm in
Maine where he and his wife would live; his fascinating scientific
research into how spiders spin webs, lay eggs, and live in the world;
his friendship with his legendary editor, Ursula Nordstrom; and the
luminous creative process that led to publication of his masterpiece.
By refining the raw ore of his childhood in Mount Vernon, New
York, in the first decade of the twentieth century, White translated
his own passions and contradictions, delights and fears, into a book
that would be read the world over. The Story of Charlotte's Web
illuminates the life of a literary icon, and will add richness and
appreciation for anyone who has loved, or has yet to read, a cherished
classic. I>, E. B. White was obeying that oft-repeated maxim:
'Write what you know.' Helpless pigs, silly geese,clever spiders,
greedy rats - White knew all of these characters in the barns and
stables where he spent his favourite hours as child and adult.
Painfully shy, White once wrote of himself 'this boy felt for animals
a kinship he never felt for people'. Nonetheless, that tens of
millions have been so moved by Charlotte's WebCharlotte's Web<
