Talk:E. B. White
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[edit] sept 11 2001
The exerpt from the 1949 essay could just as easily be talking about dropping bombs. I don't see that mentioning sept 11 is necessary, and gives a prophetic nature to EB White as well.
- Well, it's obviously about dropping bombs, given the era in which it was written. I myself think the whole thing should be removed, except, perhaps, for serving as an example of how gracefully and clearly he wrote. As for prophesizing 9/11, even in a random way, that is obviously complete nonsense. Hayford Peirce 16:56, 11 August 2005 (UTC)
The excerpted bit was a really nice example of not only how well he wrote, but how timeless his writing is: it expressed the vulnerability of a city like New York many years before that vulnerability became part of New York's history. Not prophetic, but exacting.
[edit] chronological conflict
It says here that EBWhite graduated from Cornell in 1921. Next it states he worked in Seattle for "several years" before returning to NY in 1924. That doesn't add up, ladies!
[edit] Accent on White's name
Suggest a future version correct the accent on the 'e' of the name White in the biography section. It is shown as Whité multiple times in this section.
[edit] Colorado Opening?
Maybe I'm missing something, but why is the main section of the article titled "Colorado Opening?"
Update I changed it back to "Biography" and added a couple of citation requests. White is my favorite writer, I might take it upon myself to clean this up and add some sources in the near future. There are a few good tidbits missing.
EKM
[edit] Overhaul
This article needs a major rewrite. It doesn't follow an particular format and has become very difficult to read. Daly 00:49, 17 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] E.B. White "liberal free-thinker"?
I'm not sure if E.B. White could be considered a liberal free-thinker, as described in the introducton to this article. Actually I don't know what it means to be a liberal or a free-thinker, but my intuition tells me from reading E.B. White's works that he was neither.
Consider this statement in the article "http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/03/lifetimes/white-essays.html" Appreciating E.B. White from the New York Times -
"In his politics he long ago came to stand for what many have admired about the Carter Administration: a tougher-minded attitude toward the Soviet Union, a respect for the absolute rights of human beings everywhere and a healthy skepticism for the liberal nostrum of universal disarmament. ("If modern weapons make war unlikely," Mr. White wrote in 1960, "had we not better keep them until we have found the political means of making war unnecessary?")"
I recommend striking the comment on E.B. White's political point of view, and while we are at it the rest of that sentence because it trivializes, over-simplifies and confuses.
A liberal free-thinker, White often wrote as an ironic onlooker, championing freedom of the individual.
Saying E.B. White wrote as an "ironic" onlooker means nothing, because that word without context, like the phrase "liberal free-thinker", means nothing, and in fact may be so muddled up in it's use to mean nothing even with a context. The comment about "championing freedom of the individual" brings to mind some sort of political activist, not E.B. White.
On a second note, as we all know, "The Elements of Style" is not E.B. White's book as implied in the first paragraph. E.B. White expanded and updated that book, but is not the original author. He pays tribute to it's author, his professor, William Strunk in the introduction and I would imagine - appreciate others doing the same.
I recommend changing that sentence to read -
His The writers' style guide, The Elements of Style, co-authored by E.B. White and William Strunk Jr., remains...
- Are there any sources for White's views on religion? In Charlotte's Web, religion appears to be a form of human gullibility (Charlotte's writing is treated by everybody as a miracle) but the categories in this article call him an "American Christian". --62.25.109.195 (talk) 12:29, 6 May 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Circle Outline?
Can anyone confirm that White is the inventor of a composition help called "The Circle Outline"? I've attributed it to him for 20 years. A quick Google search comes up empty.
This is a potential expansion point of this article, if we establish notability.--MarkA12 08:30, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
- OK, I am going to draft a quick explanation of the circle outline and post it here (talk page) first. --MarkA12 08:30, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Repeated vandalism
A person with an IP address (168.9.48.254) at the State of Georgia/Department of Education repeatedly vandalized the article, a person with more time and familiarity with the article might want to check it over for any mischief.--Mikerussell 16:45, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
