Publisher's Synopsis
While composing what would become his most enduring and popular book, Charlotte's Web , 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 Web , 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 and where his imagination would
flourish; 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.
