did-you-know? rent-now

Rent More, Save More! Use code: ECRENTAL

did-you-know? rent-now

Rent More, Save More! Use code: ECRENTAL

5% off 1 book, 7% off 2 books, 10% off 3+ books

9780802777546

The Story of Charlotte's Web E. B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic

by
  • ISBN13:

    9780802777546

  • ISBN10:

    0802777546

  • Format: Hardcover
  • Copyright: 2011-06-07
  • Publisher: Walker Books
  • Purchase Benefits
List Price: $25.00

Summary

As he was composing what was to become his most enduring and popular book, E. B. White was obeying that oft-repeated maxim: "Write what you know." Helpless pigs, silly geese, clever spiders, greedy ratsWhite knew all of these characters in the barns and stables where he spent his favorite hours. Painfully shy his entire life, "this boy," White once wrote of himself, "felt for animals a kinship he never felt for people." It's all the more impressive, therefore, how many people have felt a kinship with E. B. White. WithCharlotte's Web, which has gone on to sell more than 45 million copies, the man William Shawn called "the most companionable of writers" lodged his own character, the avuncular author, into the hearts of generations of readers. InThe Story of Charlotte's Web, Michael Sims shows how White solved what critic Clifton Fadiman once called "the standing problem of the juvenile-fantasy writer: how to find, not another Alice, but another rabbit hole" by mining the raw ore of his childhood friendship with animals in Mount Vernon, New York. translating his own passions and contradictions, delights and fears, into an al-time classic. Blending White's correspondence with the likes of Ursula Nordstrom, James Thurber, and Harold Ross, the E. B. White papers at Cornell, and the archives of HarperCollins and theNew Yorkerinto his own elegant narrative, Sims brings to life the shy boy whose animal stories--real and imaginery--made him famous around the world.

Author Biography

Michael Sims is the author of the acclaimed Apollo's Fire: A Day on Earth in Nature and Imagination, Adam's Navel: A Natural and Cultural History of the Human Form, and editor of the recent Dracula's Guest: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories and The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime He lives in western Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Translating Yourselfp. 1
Elwyn
Enchantedp. 9
Fearp. 19
Trustworthyp. 33
A Writing Foolp. 42
Liebesträump. 55
Andy
Olympusp. 69
Interview with a Sparrowp. 86
Crazyp. 96
As Spiders Dop. 106
Charlotte
Dream Farmp. 127
The Mouse of Thoughtp. 143
Foreknowledgep. 157
Zuckerman's Barnp. 169
Spinningworkp. 175
Paeanp. 189
Some Bookp. 208
Completionp. 226
Coda: After Charlottep. 236
Acknowledgmentsp. 245
Abbreviations for Frequent Sourcesp. 249
Notesp. 251
Selected Bibliography and Further Readingp. 289
Indexp. 297
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Supplemental Materials

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

Rewards Program