On 11 July, 1899, a baby boy entered the world full of promise and hope. Then his parents named him Elwyn Brooks White. Under this name, he became the world-famous author of Charlotte's Web, co-author of The Elements of Style and "number-one wheel horse " for The New Yorker. E. B. White is adulated as one of the most skillful masters of the English language of the 20th Century, and possibly several other centuries as well.

Elwyn

Elwyn was the youngest of Samuel Tilly White and Jessie Hart White's brood of six in Mt Vernon, New York, a suburb of Manhattan. Elwyn was an anxious little boy who did not like school, but loved boats and writing, and did enjoy playing with musical instruments and the barnyard animals kept behind his huge home.

Elwyn's teenage years can be summarized in a similar way to his childhood ones: he tried hard, did his best and worried that it wasn't good enough. He left for Cornell University in 1917. Cornell was a good place for a young writing man. Elwyn quickly rose through the ranks of The Cornell Daily Sun to become Editor-in-Chief. The best thing that happened to him was the acquisition of a nickname. The college's first president had been Andrew White, and all those surnamed "White" in Cornell forever after were nicknamed "Andy". Andy happily used his new name for the rest of his life.

Andy

Following graduation, Andy bounced unhappily between newspaper and writing jobs. He was shy, lacked confidence and applied high standards to himself.

In Seattle, Andy became a journalist for The Seattle Times, but was unsuited for the job because his writing took a humorous slant on news events while tragedies upset him so much he couldn't write about them at all. The editor finally gave him a daily column to himself, and Andy filled it with humorous paragraphs in the style of many literary columns of the 1920s:

We Answer Hard Questions:

Sir: What does it take to become a successful businessman?

Answer: A successful business.

EBW

On 19 February, 1925, Andy purchased the first issue of a new magazine called The New Yorker. It promised to be funny, satirical and literary. Andy immediately started sending pieces in. Among his first published contributions, there was a casual essay describing his reaction when a waitress spilled a glass of buttermilk on him that changed his life. Andy described how, with composure and dignity, he comforted the waitress, paid for the soup and even left her a tip. The readers loved it. Andy discovered that "the world would pay a man for setting down a simple, legible account of his own misfortunes". For most of the rest of his career, Andy published steady accounts of his own misfortunes, to popular acclaim.

In the summer of 1925, the magazine's editor, Harold Ross, hired a young married lady named Katherine Sergeant Angell. Katherine was intelligent, confident and a born leader. When she urged him to hire the writer who signed his pieces "EBW", Ross didn't hesitate.

EBW did hesitate. He refused to join full-time because he lacked faith in his ability to make a living as a writer. Years into his career he was liable to disappear to Maine for vacation without any warning.

Voice of The New Yorker

"Newsbreaks" were column-fillers consisting of news items from other papers. Andy's job was to add a pithy punch line to the newsbreak, something his subtle sense of humor was aptly suited for.

Ross soon learned that "there was practically no purpose to which words could be put that White was unable to master", and soon Andy was writing Notes and Comments, Talk of the Town, casual essays, light verse, reviews, advertisements and cartoon captions .

Andy heeded two important pieces of advice in his writing: Omit needless words and Just say the words. He aimed for unaffected simplicity and straightforwardness, always sympathising with the reader. His prose is clear, honest and beautiful. He wrote playfully, he wrote satirically, he wrote seriously and sometimes forcefully, but he rarely wrote fiction, and never tried to arouse in his reader terror, hate, passion or yearning. Still, there is no denying his mastery over metaphor, word choice and sentence structure.

Making the Most Beautiful Decision of His Life

Andy couldn't recall when he became infatuated with Katherine, but said he’d been half in love with her for a long time. He wooed her silently but not wordlessly with poems. But Katherine still hoped to salvage her marriage which was in a shambles . Accordingly, she and Andy eventually agreed to limit their interaction strictly to business.

By late 1928, Andy had mastered all the writing required of him for The New Yorker and felt like he was stagnating . He turned Talk of the Town over to a colleague and joined a friend at a Canadian summer camp while Katherine was acquiring a divorce in Reno , Nevada. When he returned in late September, he and Katherine tentatively picked up their relationship, and the two were soon talking marriage. Andy was naturally hesitant. Katherine was a divorced mother of two and seven years older than he was. But finally Andy made a decision.

Andy later called it "the most beautiful decision of his life" and remained a doting husband until the day he died. Katherine returned the sentiment and supported Andy through his emotional ups and downs.

Making Strides

The New Yorker struggled through World War II, but in late 1943 Ross recalled the Whites to New York out of desperation for writers. In return, Ross agreed to allow Andy to write more sober and opinionated Notes and Comments pieces. This he did, and Notes and Comments became a voice of reason through some of America's more tumultuous days.

For quite a while Andy had been thinking about writing a children's book. Back in New York, he settled down to compile one. In 1945, Stuart Little was published to lousy reviews. It became a bestseller.

For quite a while, Andy was almost happy. Usually, he was highly critical of his work, terrified of being stuck in a rut and depressed about his accomplishments. Now he had proof that he’d done something worthwhile.

As a final bolster to his self-esteem, Charlotte's Web hit the bookstores in October, 1952 and was an instant runaway bestseller. It remains one of the best-selling children's books of all time.

The result was more fame than the quiet, shy Andy knew what to do with. At first, he accepted a few awards and honorary degrees, but he soon learned to turn them all down. The only medal he actually felt proud to receive was the Presidential Medal of Freedom, though he later wrote that he wasn't sure what to do with it; a drawer seemed unnecessarily obscure, while casually tossed on the hall table seemed ostentatious .

Aging Gently

In 1957, the Whites retreated back to Maine, where Andy revised The Elements of Style, published The Points of My Compass, a collection of previously printed essays; wrote The Trumpet of the Swan, another children's book; and allowed Charlotte's Web to be made into a film.

Andy aged gently. For him, a happy moment was perching on the back porch stairs babysitting some goslings . He enjoyed telling funny stories about the antics of Jones, his "sad neurotic dog—just like his master" to his family over a martini. He answered bags of fan mail from children around the world and edited newsbreaks for The New Yorker.

Katherine died in 1977. A crushed and phobic Andy composed her funeral service, but didn't attend it. He continued to live on his farm and write until arthritis and cataracts made that impossible.

One day Andy came in from the barn, worried about a knock he’d received to his head. Within weeks, he developed a form of dementia and was bedridden. His son Joel visited him daily.

[Joel] would read aloud to his father and discovered that he enjoyed listening to his own writings, though he wasn't always clear about who the author was. Sometimes he’d raise a hand and impatiently wave a passage away: not good enough. Other evenings he’d listen until the end ... and then ask again whO'd written these words. "You did, Dad," Joe said. There was a pause and Andy said, "Well, not bad."

—Roger Angell in Let Me Finish

On 1 October, 1985, E.B. White died. Today, E.B. White is remembered best for Charlotte's Web and The Elements of Style, but his efforts are scattered across libraries throughout the English-speaking world and his legacy lives on in the front of The New Yorker.

1899年7月11日，一个大有前途和希望的小男孩来到了这个世界。他的父母给他取名为埃尔温·布鲁克斯·怀特。用这个名字，他成了举世闻名的作家，写下了《夏洛的网》，与人合著了《风格的要素》，并成为《纽约客》头号敬业的撰稿人。对E·B·怀特，人们不吝溢美之词，称赞他为20世纪甚至可能是数百年来最精通英语的语言大师之一。

埃尔温

塞缪尔·蒂莉·怀特和杰茜·哈特·怀特居住在纽约曼哈顿近郊的弗农山，埃尔温是他们六个孩子中最小的一个。埃尔温的孩提时代是在焦虑不安中度过的，他不喜欢学校，却偏爱划船和写作，喜欢摆弄乐器，喜欢和他家大宅后院饲养的那些动物一起嬉戏。

青少年时期的埃尔温和孩提时代没什么两样：他很努力，凡事都全力以赴，却总担心不够完美。1917年，他离开家进了康奈尔大学。对于一个爱写作的年轻人而言，康奈尔大学是一个好去处。在《康奈尔太阳日报》，埃尔温很快得以晋升，成为主编。他遇到的最美妙的事就是获得了一个昵称。康奈尔大学的第一任校长是安德鲁·怀特，之后，这所大学所有姓“怀特”的人都被冠上了一个昵称——“安迪”。在接下来的人生中，安迪一直愉快地沿用这个新名字。

安迪

毕业后，安迪一边在报业中谋职，一边从事写作，两下奔波，并不快乐。他腼腆，缺乏自信，但对自己的要求却很高。

在西雅图，安迪成了《西雅图时报》的一名记者，但他并不适合这项工作，因为他在采写新闻事件时爱用诙谐的语言，而面对那些悲剧，他总是感到非常不安，结果连一个字也写不出来。最后，编辑专门为他开设了一个每日专栏，安迪采用20世纪20年代众多文学专栏的风格，在这个专栏中写满了幽默的文字：

我们解答疑难问题：

某男士：怎样才能成为一名成功的生意人？

回答：把生意做成功。

EBW

1925年2月19日，安迪买到了一本新生杂志的创刊号，这本杂志叫《纽约客》。该杂志声称其兼具娱乐性、讽刺性和文学性，安迪旋即开始给它投稿。在他最初发表的几篇稿件中，有一篇改变了他一生的随笔，描写的是一位女侍者将一杯脱脂乳洒在他身上后他的反应。安迪描写了当时他如何镇静自若而且不失庄重地安慰那位女侍者，付了汤钱，甚至还给了她小费。读者们很喜欢这篇文章。安迪发现，“这个世界不会亏待一个用浅显易懂的方式记述自己倒霉事儿的人”。在他之后职业生涯的大多数时间里，安迪定期发表关于他倒霉事儿的记载，赢得了广泛赞誉。

1925年夏，该杂志的编辑哈罗德·罗斯聘用了一位名叫凯瑟琳·萨金特·安杰尔的年轻已婚女子。凯瑟琳聪明，自信，是一个天生的领导者。她竭力劝说罗斯将这个在投稿中署名“EBW”的作者招至麾下，罗斯毫不犹豫地答应了。

EBW却拿不定主意了。他不愿做全职，因为他对于自己靠写作来谋生的能力缺乏信心。在他多年的职业生涯中，他时不时地都会消失，毫无预警地跑到缅因州去度假。

《纽约客》之声

“新闻热点”是属于专栏补白性质的板块，里面都是摘自其他报纸的新闻。安迪的工作就是给热点新闻加上一段简洁有力的点睛妙语，而他敏锐的幽默感用于此可谓恰到好处。

罗斯很快就认识到，“几乎没有怀特玩不转的字句”（译注：意指他是写作全才，什么样的文章都能游刃有余。）。不久之后，怀特开始写“且注且评”、“城中话题”、随笔、轻松诗（译注：如幽默诗、打油诗、滑稽诗）、评论、广告词以及漫画配图文字。

安迪在写作时注意提醒自己要做到两点，那就是：绝无废言，惜墨如金。他行文讲求真挚自然，简洁朴实，直截了当，而且心中总是体谅读者的感受。他的散文清灵、真诚而优美。他的文笔时而调侃，时而挖苦，时而严肃庄重，时而铿锵有力，只是他很少写小说，也从未想过在他的读者中激起恐怖、仇恨、愤怒或者怜悯的感觉。尽管如此，他对隐喻和遣词造句的精妙把握却是不争的事实。

毕生最美的决定

安迪回忆不起自己是什么时候迷恋上凯瑟琳的，但他说在很长的一段时间里，他都对她抱有近乎爱意的感情。他的爱意表达是无声的，却不是无言的，他给她写情诗。但凯瑟琳仍旧希望挽救自己已经支离破碎的婚姻。于是，她和安迪最终达成一致：双方的来往绝对仅限于公务。

到1928年年底，对《纽约客》要求他撰写的所有文章，安迪都已经能游刃有余。他感到自己陷入了一种停滞不前的状态。于是，他将“城中话题”交给了同事，和一位朋友一起参加了一个加拿大夏令营。与此同时，凯瑟琳正在内华达州里诺市办理离婚。9月底返回后，安迪和凯瑟琳尝试着重新开始交往，很快，两人就到了谈婚论嫁的程度。安迪有些犹豫，这也很自然，毕竟凯瑟琳比他年长7岁，是一个离了婚的母亲，还带着两个孩子。不过最终，安迪还是做出了决定。

后来，安迪称这个决定是“他一生中最美的决定”，并且直到他去世的那一天，他都是一个对妻子宠爱有加的丈夫。凯瑟琳也以情相报，在他情绪起伏不定的日子里，一直都支持着他。

渐入佳境

二战时期，《纽约客》陷入了困境，不过1943年年底，出于对作家的绝望，罗斯将怀特一家召回到了纽约。作为回报，罗斯允许安迪撰写更多严谨审慎且能抒发他一己之见的“且注且评”文章。如此一来，在美国那些较为喧嚣浮躁的年代里，“且注且评”让人们听到了理性的声音。

长久以来，安迪一直在考虑写一本儿童书籍。回到纽约后，他便开始埋头撰写。1945年，《精灵鼠小弟》出版，反响如潮，成了畅销书。

在很长一段时间里，安迪几乎成了一个快乐的人。通常情况下，他对自己的作品要求极为苛刻，唯恐墨守成规，并且对自己的才能感到沮丧。而现在，他终于证明自己做了一些有价值的事情。

1952年10月，《夏洛的网》开始在各个书店销售，并且不费吹灰之力便迅速成为畅销书，这终于使他的自尊心得以增强。这本书至今仍然是最畅销的儿童书籍之一。

安迪的名声因此越来越大，文静、腼腆的他不知该如何应对。起初，他接受了几个奖项和荣誉学位，但他很快就学会了统统拒绝。唯一令他感到可以自豪地接受的奖章是“总统自由勋章”，不过后来他也曾写到，自己还是不确定该怎么对待这枚勋章。放在抽屉里似乎显得不太起眼，也没必要这么做，而随意地将其置于大厅的桌子上，则似乎又显得招摇了。

渐渐老去

1957年，怀特一家人回到了缅因州，在那儿，安迪修订了《风格的要素》，出版了先前刊印作品的选集《我的罗盘指针》；写下了另一部儿童书籍《吹小号的天鹅》，并授权将《夏洛的网》拍成了电影。

安迪渐渐老了。对于他来说，坐在后院门廊的台阶上看管幼鹅的时光是幸福的。他喜欢一边喝着马提尼酒，一边将琼斯的滑稽动作当作有趣的故事讲给家人听。琼斯就是他那只“哀伤的、有点神经质的狗—恰似他的主人”。他为世界各地儿童粉丝寄给他的大量信件写回信，还为《纽约客》编辑新闻热点。

1977年，凯瑟琳去世了。安迪伤心欲绝，感到害怕，他妥善安排了殡葬事宜，却没有出席她的葬礼。他仍旧住在他的农场里，并且笔耕不辍，直到关节炎和白内障让他再也无法写作为止。

有一天，安迪从谷仓那儿回到家，心里担心着刚才头上被撞的一击。几个星期以后，他就患上了一种痴呆症，从此卧床不起。他的儿子乔尔每天都去看望他。

（乔尔）会大声地为父亲读书，发现他爱听自己写的作品，虽然他并不总是清楚作者是谁。有时候，他会举起一只手，不耐烦地要求跳过某个段落—觉得不够好。而有些晚上，他会从头听到尾……，然后再次询问这是谁写的。“是您，爸爸，”乔尔说。停顿了一会儿，安迪说：“嗯，还不错。”

——罗杰·安杰尔《容我了却心愿》

1985年10月1日，E·B·怀特与世长辞。今天，E·B·怀特留给人们最深的记忆是《夏洛的网》和《风格的要素》，但事实上，他的成就已遍布全世界英语国家的图书馆，而他遗留下来的文风仍然在《纽约客》杂志最重要的位置延续着。 c8BzpBSPA01GFTb2rihQFs3vSdL8rZxiTAkLm6gCJ8G5+LmXcq3mX2TWss61TlMI