E.B. White: A Biography

Rating:
Summary: If only Elledge could write like White...
Review: ...but, alas, he can't. What this book lacks in style, though, it makes up in detail. I just don't think it's quite a fair trade.

Rating:
Summary: A good biography that's inspirational to writers
Review: He's so much more than "Charlotte's Web" or "Stuart Little"! Read a volume of E.B. White's essays first and follow it up with this biography, and then you'll know almost everything about the man and his work. Author Scott Elledge was fortunate enough to have corresponded and visited with White; this work is therefore as accurate and as personal as one can be. It begins with the birth of Elwyn Brooks "Andy" White in Westchester County, N.Y., and follows his path to the West Coast as a young man and eventually back to New York and The New Yorker magazine, with diversions to a farm in Maine. The chapters about The New Yorker offices are the most interesting to those of us curious about how that publication works. And don't take that "Elements of Style" paperback on your bookshelf for granted! (And who *was* Strunk, anyway?) You'll learn here why White got involved in that project and what work went into its revision.

This book includes more than 30 pages of photos, illustrations, and original essay drafts. It's fascinating to see White's penciled editorial changes over his own typewritten paragraphs.

Recommended for fans of E.B. White, fans of The New Yorker magazine, and writers of all genres.

Rating:
Summary: Not an intimate look but as close as White would have wanted
Review: The review below strikes me as unfair. Who DOES write like E.B. White? I thought Elledge's prose was decent, workmanlike, and unobtrusive. His scholarship seems excellent. Most important, Elledge is smart, respectful but not overawed -- he points out White's long immaturity and self-absorption -- and yet humane. (The more you delve into the world of biography, the more significant the last characteristic becomes.) He likes White and as a reader, you will too.