E.B. White co-wrote writing guide

E.B. White

It is the birthday of writer E.B. White (1899), who is best remembered for being co-author of The Elements of Style, the well known English language style guide also known as Strunk and White, and for his children's books, and Stuart Little (1945) and Charlotte's Web (1952).

White joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1925, and was a contributor for about 60 years. He married the magazine's literary editor, Katharine Angell, and they had a farm in Maine. White was a quiet man who avoided meeting new visitors to his office by exiting down the fire escape.

The Elements of Style was first written by William Strunk, Jr. , White's English professor at Cornell University, and published in 1918. It was a short, concise list of words often misspelled, expressions often misused and rules for writing proper English. White had used it when he was in school but by 1957, when he was at The New Yorker, he had forgotten about it. That's when it came across it and wrote a feature story about his old professor's devotion to clear, concise writing.

White was commissioned by Macmillian and Company to revise the Strunk's book. He modernized and expanded it with an introduction about Strunk and a final chapter, An Approach to Style, as a broader guide to clear writing. It was published in 1959 and sold two million copies. Since then it has been revised several times and new editions have been published, including an illustrated edition in 2005. More than 10 million copies of the various editions have been sold.

White wrote Stuart Little for his niece. It is the story of a mouse that is born to human parents and their adventures and misadventures. White said the idea for the story came to him in a railway sleeping car when he dreamed about a tiny boy who acted like a mouse.

Charlotte's Web, about a barn spider and her relationship with a pig whom she saves from slaughter, has become a favorite in classic children's literature. It was adapted as an animated feature and a live action film.

White received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little. He won an honorary Pulitzer Prize for his body of work, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963.

Happy birthday, Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust

It is the birthday of French novelist Marcel Proust (1871), whose seven-volume Remembrance of Things Past (published 1813 to 1827) is considered his masterpiece.

It is an ambitious work, including some 3,200 pages and almost 1.5 million words. There are 2,000 characters in the book. Critics call it one of the greatest works of the 20th century. It is certainly one of the longest.

It is narrated by a young man who wants to become a writer (surely Proust himself), and includes his observations on life in Paris in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Critics say it is not exactly a biography, for many of the incidents have been fictionalized or enhanced for literary effect. It does, however, mirror Proust's life in many ways.

Proust wrote articles for magazines and maintained a regular column in a Paris newspaper about Parisian aristocracy. He also volunteered at the Mazarine Public Library in Paris as a ploy to keep from having to get a real career as his father wished. Proust never really worked at the library. Instead he got an extended leave of absence that allowed him time to write.

Most notable about Proust's novel is the involuntary memory theme, in which everyday activities trigger recollections of events of the past. An aroma or a taste or the sight of a certain object might bring back thoughts of an earlier time. Famously, the book contains what is known as the episode of the madeleine, in which a sponge cake dipped into herbal tea produced a memory for the writer. Proust uses this involuntary memory device throughout the book.

The author published the first volume himself after being rejected by numerous publishers. Subsequent volumes were published by his original printer. With the success of the first volume, one of the publishers to whom he had submitted his book offered to publish the rest but Proust elected to stay with his original printer, at least until the company shut down at the beginning of World War I.

Only four volumes were printed in Proust's lifetime. His brother, Robert, published the other three volumes after Marcel's death in 1922. The book has been translated into English numerous times under the title In Search of Lost Time, most recently in Britain in 2002. 

Ann Radcliffe perfected Gothic novels

Ann Radcliffe

It is the birthday of English writer Ann Radcliffe (1764), who is credited with perfecting the Gothic novel with vivid descriptions of settings, supernatural elements and a well reasoned explanation at the end of all the strange events in the story.

Radcliffe is said to have been a beautiful woman but very private. Little is known of the details of her life. Scholars say her husband was the editor and co-owner of a newspaper. It is said that he often worked late and that she occupied herself with her writing, which she read to him when he came home.

She wrote only six novels:

The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne (1789). A novel of intrigue among Scottish nobility set in ruined medieval castles along the rugged Scottish coastline. The castles themselves are key elements in the story.

A Sicilian Romance (1790). A monk relates the story of a doomed aristocratic Italian family and its shameful secrets. But all ends happily.

The Romance of the Forest (1791). A Frenchman and his wife and two servants flee his creditors in Paris and end up in a ruined abbey with a beautiful young woman and, later, the couple's son. Terrifying events occur, a great secret is revealed and all is right in the end. This was Radcliffe's first popular novel, and established her reputation. She and her husband traveled extensively on the earnings from her writing.

The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794). Set in the mountains of southern France and northern italy, this is the story of a young French woman whose father dies, her trials at the hands of an Italian bandit, her romance with a dashing young hero, and the revelation of secrets about her father. A character in Jane Austin's novel Northanger Abbey reads this book and begins to see her friends as characters in a Gothic novel in a send-up of Radcliffe's work. (Radcliffe appears as a friend encouraging Jane Austin to write in the movie Becoming Jane, though scholars say there is no evidence such a meeting took place.)

The Italian (1797). Set during the French Revolution, this is a novel of romance and intrigue and persecution.  The was the last book published in Radcliffe's lifetime.

Gaston De Blondeville (1826). This is a story of murder and intrigue set in the 13th century in the court of King Henry III. Radcliffe's husband published it after her death.

In addition to Austin, Radcliffe's work also influenced Sir Walter Scott, Marquis de Sade and Edgar Allan Poe.

Happy birthday, Gustav Mahler

It is the birthday of Austrian composer Gustav Mahler (1860), who was a renowned conductor as well. His compositions, not as well regarded at the height of his career, have gained admirers since World War II. Mahler's work influenced Benjamin Britten, Dmitri Shostakovich, Kurt Weill, and Aaron Copland. Here is the beginning of Mahler's Symphony No. 8. Enjoy.