E.B. White: The Emergence of an Essayist

Dividing White's career as essayist into ""four fairly pronounced periods,"" Root sets out to carefully analyze every stage in the development of one of America's best-known essayists, and the man who put the New Yorker on the literary map. The first period consists of White's first 12 years at the New Yorker, to 1938; the second covers his columns for Harper's, through 1943; the third is defined by his return to the New Yorker as the writer of the Comment page (he also wrote Charlotte's Web in 1952); and the fourth, which includes his famous revision of The Elements of Style, begins with his 1957 retirement to Maine. Two themes dominate Root's study: one is White's method of composition, his revision process and the effect of deadlines on his work; the other is the hybrid quality of many of White's essays, which combine elements from his short columns and letters with literary influences from Montaigne to Thoreau. Root's close readings, replete with lengthy citations and charts, may seem more meticulous than much of today's flighty critical fare. But readers outside the academy may find the title misleading, for Root trains his eyes on the nuts and bolts of White's paragraphs and publications, but provides only a threadbare account of the life that shaped them. (Apr.)