Perspective

In most of his letters, E.B. White maintains a tone of ironic observer of life. It is from that perspective that much of his wry humor derives. It is as if he wants to share his latest discovery of just how nutty humans can be, how inexplicable, and how hilariously illogical life can get. In this attitude, there is a gentleness without rancor or bitterness which makes his observations more palatable. "A door is something a dog is always on the wrong side of," he once observed. Taken as a whole, E.B. White's letters trace his evolution from innocent country boy to urban legend to country farmer/writer. They capture the madness of young love, the high spirits of driving around the country with a college chum, the joy and weight of starting a new family, the exhilaration of becoming a successful author, and his growing...