Writer E.B. White Keen Focus Made His Prose Some Of The Finest.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)

Byline: Christopher L. Tyner

The best, E.B. White believed, often lies in the simple.

For White, that meant simple, clear sentences. He wasn't interested in fame. He didn't seek great riches. He especially didn't want to be known as a literary luminary traveling what he called the "wine and cheese circuit."

His labor at the typewriter was intended to find his voice. An authentic voice, he figured, is what others would be interested in.

"I think there is only one frequency and that the whole problem is to establish communication with one's self, and, that being done, everyone else is tuned in," White wrote. "In other words, if a writer succeeds in communicating with a reader, I think it is simply because he had been trying (with some success) to get in touch with himself -- to clarify the reception."

One of the 20th century's most influential writers, White wrote 20 books, from collections of essays, letters and poetry to the much-loved children's books "Stuart Little," "Charlotte's Web" and "The Trumpet of the Swan." He was co-author of the pocket prose classic "The Elements of Style." His approach was straightforward but never boring. Indeed, his verbs and nouns were often elegant and dazzling.

"The thing about Andy White was that he was simple and direct," said Roger Angell in a recent interview. Angell is the New Yorker's baseball writer, former fiction editor and stepson to White. His mother, Katharine Angell, was the New Yorker's first fiction editor and was married to White for 50 years.