E.B. WHITE

EARLY LIFE

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• Born in Mount Vernon, NY
• Elwin Brooks White
• Parents are Samuel Tilly White and Jessie Hart
• Father was a piano manufacturer
• Although having 3 sisters and 2 brothers, the family was able to live comfortably
• White's early education consisted of several public schools.
• Attended Cornell University after graduating

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• Served as the editor of the university's school newspaper
• Graduated in 1921
• With the goal in mind of becoming a writer, White turned down a teaching position at the University of Minnesota
• For seven months, White held three jobs. First with the United Press, second within Public Relations, and the third with the American Legion News Service.

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• From 1922-1923, White worked as a reporter for the Seattle Times
• For the next 2 years White worked as a production assistant at an advertising agency
• Within this time, White had poems published in Franklin P. Adams's "The Conning Tower"
• In 1925, White published the article "Defense of the Bronx River" in the New Yorker Magazine.
• This led to White becoming a contributing editor in 1927 until his death in 1985

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• White met his wife, Katharine Sergeant Angell, an editor and writer, at the New Yorker. They married in 1929
• In 1930 the couple had a son named Joel
• While working at the New Yorker, White continued to publish other literary projects.
• A collection of his essays came out in 1977. This same year his wife passed and White was left devastated

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• Nearing the end of his life, White developed Alzheimer's disease
• White passed on October 1, 1985 at the age of 86

MOST WELL KNOWN WORKS

• Stuart Little (1945)
• Here is New York (1949)
• Is Sex Necessary? (1929)
• The Elements of Style (1959)
• One Man's Meat (1978)
• The Points of My Compass (1962)
• Charlotte's Web (1952)

AWARDS

• John Newbery Medal (1953)
• Presidential Medal of Freedom (1963)
• Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal (1970)
• Laurence L. & Thomas Winship (1977)
• Pulitzer Prize Special Citations and Awards (1978)

STYLE

• "Cleanliness, accuracy, and brevity in the use of english."
• A signature in White's writing is his use of description. He may rely on rhythm and repetition to create his description.
• Overall White's writing appears to be witty.

"With some writers, style not only reveals the spirit of the man but reveals his identity, as surely as would his fingerprints" - E.B. White

WORKS CITED

• “E. B. White Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. Web.
• “E.B. White.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 20 Apr. 2016. Web.
• Elledge, Scott. E. B. White: A Biography. New York: Norton, 1984.
• Interviewed by George Plimpton and Frank H. Crowther. “E. B. White, The Art of the Essay No. 1.” The Paris Review, 11 Aug. 2017. Web.

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• Popova, Maria. "E.B. White on the Art of the Essay and Why Egotism Is Essential for the Essay Writer – Brain Pickings." Brain Pickings. Web.
• “Who is E. B. White? Everything You Need to Know.” Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline, The Famous People. Web.