E.B. White Narrates an Animation of His Story “The Family That Dwelt Apart”

in Animation, Film, Literature | July 11th, 2011 2 Comments

E.B. White, beloved author of Char­lot­te’s Web, Stu­art Lit­tle, and the clas­sic Eng­lish writ­ing guide The Ele­ments of Style (with William Strunk), would have been 102 today. He passed away in 1985, after a near­ly six­ty-year career writ­ing for The New York­er, and win­ning sev­er­al lit­er­ary awards, includ­ing a Pulitzer prize, a Pres­i­den­tial Medal of Hon­or, and the pres­ti­gious chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture prize, The Lau­ra Ingalls Wilder Medal.

In 1983, the Cana­di­an direc­tor Yvon Malette made an ani­mat­ed short film of White’s New York­er sto­ry, “The Fam­i­ly That Dwelt Apart.” The nar­ra­tor of the film (which was nom­i­nat­ed for an Acad­e­my Award), is Elwin Brooks White him­self, his voice still strong at age 84. Enjoy, but be fore­warned: It’s a bit of a tear­jerk­er.

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Sheer­ly Avni is a San Fran­cis­co-based arts and cul­ture writer. Her work has appeared in Salon, LA Week­ly, Moth­er Jones, and many oth­er pub­li­ca­tions. You can fol­low her on twit­ter at @sheerly.


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