埃爾文·布魯克斯·懷特 　　埃爾文·布魯克斯·懷特（Elwyn Brooks White, 1899-1985），美國(guó)當(dāng)代著名散文家、評(píng)論家，以散文名世，最為世人稱道的一篇是《湖畔重游》（Once More to the Lake）。

　　E·B·懷特1899年生于紐約。1918年他從美軍中退役，入康奈爾大學(xué)就讀，1921 年畢業(yè)，期間曾擔(dān)任《西雅圖時(shí)報(bào)》等多家媒體的記者。1924 年，他回到紐約，當(dāng)了一位廣告撰稿人。1926或1927年，他來到《紐約客》雜志社作編輯工作，隨后11年里，他為雜志寫下了大量的散文和詩歌。1929 年他和凱瑟琳結(jié)婚（1941年夫妻二人共同撰寫了《美國(guó)幽默文庫》一書）。不久，懷特開始為《新紐約周刊》工作。但是，直到他和他的同事兼朋友詹姆斯·特伯合著的《性是必需的嗎？》一書在同年出版后，懷特才真正引起了文壇的注意。

　　1938年至1943年間，作為《哈珀斯》雜志的專欄作家，懷特為“個(gè)人觀點(diǎn)”專欄撰寫了大量的散文。這些“懷特式”散文在1942年結(jié)集出版，被評(píng)論界認(rèn)為是懷特最優(yōu)秀的一本散文集。

　　1939年，懷特搬到緬因州北布魯克林的一個(gè)農(nóng)場(chǎng)，作為一名自由作家繼續(xù)寫作。1959年，懷特出版了文體學(xué)專著《文體的要素》，該書被廣泛地用作美國(guó)院校的教材。

　　懷特寫過三部童話：《小老鼠斯圖爾特》（1945）、《夏洛蒂的網(wǎng)》（1952）、《天鵝的喇叭》（1970），前兩部均已被搬上銀幕�！断穆宓俚木W(wǎng)》至今已發(fā)行500萬余冊(cè)，擁有20多種文字的譯本，是懷特最受歡迎的童話作品。在美國(guó)《出版周刊》1976年進(jìn)行的讀者調(diào)查中，《夏洛蒂的網(wǎng)》位居“美國(guó)十佳兒童文學(xué)名著”的首位，曾有一位小讀者寫信問懷特：“你的童話故事是真的嗎？”懷特回答道：“不，他們是想象出來的故事，但真實(shí)的生活也不過是生活的一種罷了，想象里的生活也算一種生活�！�

　　1985年10月1日，懷特因罹患阿爾茲海默病在緬因州北布魯克林去世。

　　由于懷特在散文創(chuàng)作等方面取得的突出成績(jī)，他生前曾獲多項(xiàng)殊榮：1971年，他獲得美國(guó)“國(guó)家文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)?wù)隆保?973年，他當(dāng)選美國(guó)文學(xué)藝術(shù)學(xué)院50名永久院士之一；1978年，他獲得普利策特別文藝獎(jiǎng)；此外，他還獲得了美國(guó)七家大學(xué)及學(xué)院的名譽(yù)學(xué)位。

　　懷特的主要作品有：《女士是冷酷的》（1928），《性是必需的嗎？》（1929），《美國(guó)幽默文庫》（1941），《個(gè)人觀點(diǎn)》（1942），《小老鼠斯圖爾特》（1945），《野菖蒲》（1946），《這里是紐約》（1949），《夏洛蒂的網(wǎng)》（1952），《角落里的第二棵樹》（1954），《文體的要素》（1959），《我羅盤的方位》（1962），《天鵝的喇叭》（1970），《懷特散文》（1977），《詩與小品》（1981），《紐約客文選1925-1976》（1990）。

　　《夏洛蒂的網(wǎng)》在北京西單圖書大廈B1外文原版書專柜有售。

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　　Biography

　　If you’ve seen the movie Stuart Little then you’ll probably know that the film was based on the original book, Stuart Little, written by Elwyn Brooks White. Mr. White lived on a farm in Maine where he kept animals, and some of these creatures made their way into his stories and books, like Stuart in Stuart Little, or Charlotte in Charlotte’s Web. After all, as E.B. White said, "I like animals, and my barn is a very pleasant place to be, at all hours!"

　　E. B. White was born in Mount Vernon, New York, and went to public schools there. He graduated from Cornell University in 1921, worked in New York for a year, then traveled about. After five or six years of trying many sorts of jobs, he joined the staff of The New Yorker magazine. He wrote satirical sketches, poems, essays, and editorials.

　　In 1938, Mr. White moved to the country. On his farm in Maine he kept animals, and some of these creatures got into his stories and books. Mr. White said he found writing difficult, but he kept at it. He began Stuart Little in the hope of amusing a six-year-old niece of his, but before he finished it, she had grown up.

　　White was awarded the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for his children’s books Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web. His third children’s book, The Trumpet of the Swan, was honored by The International Board on Books for Young People as an outstanding example of literature with international importance. In 1973, it received the Sequoyah Award (Oklahoma) and the William Allen White Award (Kansas), voted by the school children of those states as their "favorite book" of the year.

　　His essays appeared in Harper’s Magazine, and his books (for adults) include One Man’s Meat, The Second Tree from the Corner, Letters of E. B. White, The Essays of E. B. White, and Poems and Sketches of E. B. White. He wrote a total of 20 books of prose and poetry!

　　Mr. White was awarded the 1971 National Medal for Literature, and in 1963, President John F. Kennedy named him as one of 31 Americans to receive the Presidential Medal for Freedom. Mr. White also received the National Institute of Arts and Letters’ Gold Medal for Essays and Criticism, and in 1973 the members of the Institute elected him to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a society of 50 members. He also received honorary degrees from 7 colleges and universities.

　　Mr. White died of Alzheimer’s Disease on October 1, 1985.

　　E.B. White also wrote books for adults, as well as writing poems and essays, and drawing sketches for The New Yorker magazine. Funnily enough for such a famous writer, he always said that he found writing difficult and bad for one’s disposition, but he kept at it!

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　　Stories Behind the Books

　　1. Stuart Little has been a celebrity in children’s literature for over 50 years. How did he first come to life?

　　One night E. B. White went to bed in a railway sleeping car. During the night, he dreamed about a tiny boy who acted rather like a mouse. When he woke up he began writing the famous story that we all know as Stuart Little. That’s how the story of Stuart Little got started. This little mouse has already become a big star to hit movie screens.

　　2. How did E. B. White think up the story for Charlotte’s Web?

　　E. B. White put it this way, "I had been watching a big grey spider at her work and was impressed by how clever she was at weaving. Gradually I worked the spider into the story that you know, a story of friendship and salvation on a farm."

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　　Quotation Guide

　　One of the most time-consuming things is to have an enemy.

　　When I was a child people simply looked about them and were moderately happy; today they peer beyond the seven seas, bury themselves waist deep in tidings, and by and large what they see and hear makes them unutterably sad.

　　A man who publishes his letters becomes a nudist — nothing shields him from the world’s gaze except his bare skin. A writer, writing away, can always fix himself up to make himself more presentable, but a man who has written a letter is stuck with it for all time.

　　Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.

　　Television hangs on the questionable theory that whatever happens anywhere should be sensed everywhere. If everyone is going to be able to see everything, in the long run all sights may lose whatever rarity value they once possessed, and it may well turn out that people, being able to see and hear practically everything, will be specially interested in almost nothing.