E. B. White Tonight: Foreword (1954) and Introduction (1984) to "The Second Tree from the Corner"

"Whoever sets pen to paper writes of himself, whether knowingly or not."

-- White, in the original (1954) Foreword
to The Second Tree from the Corner

by Ken

For a long time the only books of E. B. White I had were my old Harper Perennial paperback editions of The Second Tree from the Corner and One Man's Meat. Somehow I thought I needed lots more White books, and in the process I'm not sure I properly appreciated either of those terrific books. Oh, I found a few pieces in each that I was especially fond of, but I don't think I was taking proper advantage of the opportunities these very different books both sent out to tune in to the many frequencies on which the author broadcast.

My recollection is that the 1984 Introduction that White added for a planned new edition of Second Tree from the Corner, written when he was 84, was the last thing he wrote for publication. I hope I'm not the only one who's fascinated by his take on the Foreword he had written 30 years earlier for the original edition of this wide-ranging anthology of his work. I don't know what to make of the fact that I never picked up on the qualities that so struck him on reencounter.

For one thing, I'm not sure I grasped that White was as old as 54 when the original edition was published. And apparently the 54-year-old White would have been more surprised than anyone that he would be writing a new introduction 30 years later. As the quote I've stuck at the top of this post suggests, he understood and was fairly comfortable with the extent to which his own life was the subject of, or at least provided most of the material for, his writing. Which is why I want you to have the opportunity to read both pieces.


TO READ THE TWO PREFACES E.B.W.

WROTE FOR SECOND TREE, CLICK HERE


TOMORROW in E. B. WHITE TONIGHT: Part 1 of the title story of The Second Tree from the Corner -- "the one where the fellow says goodbye to sanity," as the author describes it parenthetically in the 1954 Foreword


THURBER TONIGHT (including BENCHLEY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, BOB AND RAY, and E. B. WHITE TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

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