E. B. White

Most people have probably read E. B. White's children's books Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, and The Trumpeter Swan at some point. I remember each of these stories quite clearly from when I was younger, so I was intrigued by seeing his name as the author of one of our short stories. The Second Tree from the Corner turns out to be a very simple story about a neurotic, but very empathetic character going to see his doctor and coming to some sort of terms with his fears through identifying with the doctor. I enjoyed how E. B. White managed to explain the main character by using first person to get inside his mind, providing some rather unconventional analogies and slightly confusing and illogical trains of thought.

At http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ebwhite.htm I found that E. B. White was born in 1899 into a wealthy, loving family in Mount Vernon, NY. He attended Cornell University, graduating in 1921. He worked as a reporter for various organizations until becoming a writer for The New Yorker, where he met his wife Katherine Seargent Angell. He wrote and worked for The New Yorker for the rest of his career. White covered many social topics in his stories, novels, and essays: "the complexities of modern society, failures of technological progress, the pleasures of urban and rural life, war, and internationalism." His writing also touched on religion, racial segregation, and the newly created UN. E. B. White was an extremely successful writer who stressed simple living in his works. In 1985 he died of Alzheimer disease.