Katharine S. White (1892–1977)
Forfatter af Onward and Upward in the Garden
Om forfatteren
Katharine S. White (1896-1977) was fiction editor at The New Yorker from 1925 to 1959. She and her husband, E. B. White, lived in New York City and North Brooklin, Maine
Image credit: White Literary LLC
Værker af Katharine S. White
Two Gardeners: Katherine S. White and Elizabeth Lawrence, A Friendship in Letters (2002) 162 eksemplarer
Crawe 1 eksemplar
Associated Works
My Favorite Plant: Writers and Gardeners on the Plants They Love (1998) — Bidragyder — 68 eksemplarer
Satte nøgleord på
Almen Viden
- Kanonisk navn
- White, Katharine S.
- Andre navne
- White, Katharine Sergeant Angell
White, Katharine - Fødselsdato
- 1892-09-17
- Dødsdag
- 1977-07-20
- Køn
- female
- Nationalitet
- USA
- Fødested
- Winchester, Massachusetts, USA
- Dødssted
- Blue Hill, Maine, USA
- Bopæl
- North Brooklin, Maine, USA
New York, New York, USA - Uddannelse
- Bryn Mawr College
- Erhverv
- editor
columnist
writer - Relationer
- White, E.B. (husband)
Angell, Roger (son)
Angell, Ernest (husband) - Organisationer
- The New Yorker (fiction editor and columnist)
- Kort biografi
- Born into an upper-class family in Massachusetts, Katharine Sergeant attended Miss Winsor's school in Boston and Bryn Mawr College. She married Ernest Angell in 1914; the couple were divorced in 1929 and she married E.B. White. In 1925, she became the first fiction editor at the fledgling publication The New Yorker and helped create its distinctive style and format. She was described as an extremely literate, elegant, and cultivated woman. James Thurber called her "the fountain and shrine of The New Yorker." She was credited with discovering the talents of many 20th century American writers. Her only book was published under the name Katharine S. White.
Medlemmer
Anmeldelser
I don't garden so after the novelty wore off it was rough going. I'd consider spreading it out, say a chapter a week, otherwise it's a bit much. I also had to look up quite a few of the flowers to keep pace. The writing is fine, though dated in style, in my mind it definitely read as pre-WWII. There's a definite underpinning of the white middle class experience as normative.
This gardening book is a compilation of articles originally written as a column for The New Yorker magazine. It took me by surprise. The individual essays are not actually about gardening per se, but are for the most part, reviews of seed catalogs. I have done this once myself, so I was a bit intrigued. It turns out Mrs. White is quite opinionated about gardening and the development of new plant varieties- especially how showier flowers and bigger produce seem to be all the seedsmen are aiming for- at least that was her take on it. She disparages a lot of trends in the seed catalogs, which makes for some amusing reading. Here and there she mentions her own experiences with certain plants, which were the parts I really enjoyed. She doesn't just talk about plants, though. She criticizes (or praises where it was merited) the paper quality, choice of typography and clarity of photos in the seed catalogs. Later in the book are a few reviews of different types of publications regarding plants- field guides to wildflowers and oversized gardening books meant to be decorative (I call them "coffee table" books). I admit I was totally uninterested in the two chapters about books on formal flower arranging, styles in flower arrangement, and flower shows. I kind of skimmed through that. I puzzled a bit at how often she made a point of telling which supplier had what particular variety of a species, until I recalled the publication date: there was no internet back then. You couldn't just do a search and find where to buy the rose your grandmother used to grow or anything. So of course she made notes on which seeds suppliers grew, developed and sold what particular strains of plants. Specializing in roses, or azaleas, or herbs, etc. Helpfully, in the back of the book is a listing of all the catalogs and suppliers mentioned, with brief notes if they are still in business or have changed their focus. Only the last two chapters review gardening books of the kind I like to read- and here I did note down a few titles that sound particularly good. And on a different note, the introduction is written by her husband, a lovely portrait of Mrs. White and some of her gardening habits.
from the Dogear Diary… (mere)
from the Dogear Diary… (mere)
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Associated Authors
Statistikker
- Værker
- 4
- Also by
- 3
- Medlemmer
- 922
- Popularitet
- #27,830
- Vurdering
- 3.9
- Anmeldelser
- 15
- ISBN
- 10
White has a straightforward way of discussing both the good and the bad in the garden books. She doesn't hesitate to tell you her preferences and opinions in flower arrangement and garden blooms. At the same time, I felt as though I were sitting with my grandmother discussing the various seed catalogs and possibilities for the garden. She is both charming and literary, well spoken and firm in her ideas. She weaves in history, lore and childhood memories in the most natural way.
At the end of the book, there is a large section with seed and plant nurseries which were still operating at the time of this publication, 1979. There is also an introduction by E. B. White. Very charming line drawings of plants and flowers at the beginning and end of each chapter of the book.… (mere)