Comments on: july: notes on e.b. white

By: patricia

patricia — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 01:35:30 +0000

I’ll bet a whole lot of people don’t realize that the author of Charlotte’s Web was also one of our country’s finest essayists either! I know I didn’t realize it until fairly recently. But we should cut ourselves some slack–he was a little before our time.

By: melissa s.

melissa s. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:16:43 +0000

I’m embarassed to admit that I didn’t know EB White was the ‘White’ in ‘Strunk & White.’ He is a breath of fresh air indeed. Still loving your series, btw!

By: patricia

patricia — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 06:27:20 +0000

I admire the graceful enders too. Endings are so very important–and so very hard to do.

I don’t know much about rhetoric. But whenever I have an ending to rewrite–and I always rewrite my endings about 57 times–I pick up books by my favorite essayists and read all their final paragraphs. And I suppose it’s a little like White: I don’t quite understand the rhetoric of what they’re doing; I don’t get what’s going on under the hood. But after reading several masterful endings, you start to internalize something.

By: patricia

patricia — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 06:20:50 +0000

I was relieved to read his words about writing by ear and not knowing what’s going on under the hood too. I’m holding on to those quotes for when I talk to parents about kids and grammar. Kids don’t need to study grammar–they need to read good writing and write lots themselves. They’ll soak up the grammar without realizing it.

If White of Strunk & White didn’t know what was going on under the hood, the rest of us don’t need to know either. Unless we’re English teachers.

P.S. We were driving through Berkeley tonight and I saw you lined up outside of Ici, but couldn’t get your attention. So you wrote your comment on a happy stomach, apparently…

By: patricia

patricia — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 06:09:09 +0000

Yes, I do hate it when quotes have bits taken out of them–especially when it messes with the overall meaning. It was strange to see that again and again the settlers were removed from that quote, when the settlers seemed to be the point of the quote.

And, oh, I love M.F.K Fisher. I was fully intending to have her be one of my summer essayists, but Molly Wizenberg hopped in and took the foodie slot. But I may get to her in the fall.

Paris to the Moon is one of my very favorites. I don’t know if you read my intro to this project, but my admiration for Adam Gopnik is what inspired the project. I’m planning to end with him in December…

I’m so glad you like the series. I’m sure lots of folks don’t quite know what to do with it. Analyzing writing on a blog is strange enough, but essayists? How obscure!

By: stefaneener

stefaneener — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 05:09:32 +0000

Ah, thanks for the inclusion of the conclusion.

Stopping essays is always a chore for me (pause here so all who know me can nod sagely and say, “Boy, do we know about that!”) and I admire the graceful enders. However, until now I’d not thought of the rhetorical methods by which those neat endings are wrought.

Perhaps a classic course of rhetoric is what I need. Any Great Courses lectures on it?

By: susan

susan — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:51:36 +0000

I love the sensible dog passage. And you are right–excise the boy from the corn belt! How could they? It is so slyly apparently about random people.

Oh, and the passage about vulnerable NY is astounding.

You have made me think I must definitely not throw out the baby with the bath water. Especially when he admits, as you point out, that he doesn’t have “any exact notion of what is taking place under the hood.” And, that he “writes by ear,” which is as it should be…and boy is his prose lovely on the ear.

Thank you so much for responding to my request. You have reminded me that the right way to study style is not to read a manual but to read great stylists and analyze the writing as you are doing. Who cares about Strunk and White? Just read White. Next thing I’ll be starting my own year of excellent essayists. And many thanks for the link!

By: Tara Reese

Tara Reese — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:46:27 +0000

I’ve been having a bit of an E.B. White affair this season, as well. Many years ago, i bought “Here is New York” for a friend when he was moving to Manhattan, and he told me that it was one of the best gifts he’d ever received. For some reason, that still wasn’t enough to get me to read his work, other than the children’s classics. I picked up a used essay collection on the road trip and he’s been the perfect companion to my summer. I love the nostalgia of it all, without it being overly sentimental. He seems to always be paying attention.
And don’t you just hate it when integral quotes have bits taken out of them while being cited? I find that often happens with M.F.K. Fisher ramblings that I love entirely. You are absolutely correct about the corn belt boy part, (perhaps because I’m a corn belt girl).
I love this series, Tricia. (and slightly off topic, Paris to the Moon is one of my favorites, too.)