《夏洛的网》的写作背景

怀特对这个世界上的一切都充满关爱，他的道德与他的文章一样山高水长。除了他终生挚爱的随笔之外，他还为孩子们写了三本书：《斯图尔特鼠小弟》（又译《精灵鼠小弟》）、《夏洛的网》与《吹小号的天鹅》（又译《天鹅的喇叭》），同样成为儿童与成人共同喜爱的文学经典。其中最受欢迎的就是《夏洛的网》，至今已经发行5000万册以上，拥有20多种文字的译本。在美国1976年《出版周刊》搞的一次读者调查中，这本童话位居“美国十佳儿童文学名著”中的首位，可见它受欢迎的程度。

White's editor Ursula Nordstrom said that one day, in 1952, E.B. White handed her a new manuscript, the only version of Charlotte's Web then in existence, which she read soon after and enjoyed.[3] Charlotte's Web was published three years after White began writing it.[4]

Since E. B. White published Death of a Pig in 1948,[5] an account of his own failure to save a sick pig (bought for butchering), Charlotte’s Webcan be seen as White's attempt to save his pig in retrospect.[6] White's overall motivation for the book has not been revealed and he has written: I haven't told why I wrote the book, but I haven't told you why I sneeze, either. A book is a sneeze.[7]

When White met the spider who originally inspired Charlotte, he called her Charlotte Epeira (after Epeira sclopetaria, the Grey Cross spider, now known as Aranea sericata), before discovering that the more modern name for that genus was Aranea.[8] In the novel, Charlotte gives her full name as Charlotte A. Cavatica, revealing her as a barn spider, an orb-weaver with the scientific name Araneus cavaticus.

The arachnid anatomical terms (mentioned in the beginning of chapter nine) and other information that White used, came mostly from American Spidersby Willis J. Gertsch and The Spider Book by John Henry Comstock, both of which combine a sense of poetry with scientific fact.[9] White incorporated details from Comstock's accounts of baby spiders, most notably the flight of the young spiders on silken parachutes.[9] White sent Gertsch’s book to illustrator Garth Williams.[10] Williams’ initial drawings depicted a spider with a woman’s face, and White suggested that he simply draw a realistic spider instead.[11]

White originally opened the novel with an introduction of Wilbur and the barnyard (which later became the third chapter), but decided to begin the novel by introducing Fern and her family on the first page.[10] White’s publishers were at one point concerned with the book’s ending and tried to get White to change it.[12]

Charlotte's Web has become White's most famous book; but White treasured his privacy and that of the farmyard and barn that helped inspire the novel, which have been kept off limits to the public according to his wishes.[13]

这是维基百科的版本，应该是很权威的。维基百科里没有中文版的背景介绍。

《夏洛的网》-相关评价 一）经过漫长的等待，世界经典童话《夏洛的网》终于在2004年5月由上海译文出版社引进出版，新版的译者是德高望重的儿童文学翻译家任溶溶先生。作为一本儿童文学名著，任溶溶先生的译本显然比旧译更加贴近儿童，但新译本能否完全取代旧译在读者心中的地位，还需要读者来作出判断。

不过无论如何，终于能够读到《夏洛的网》，对读者来说确实是一件幸运的事情。 “这实在是一本宝书。我觉得在一个理想的世界里，应该只有两种人存在，一种是读过《夏洛的网》的人，另一种是将要读《夏洛的网》的人。有时候，半夜里醒过来，摸摸胸口还在跳，就会很高兴，因为活着就意味着还能再把《夏洛的网》读一遍，而读《夏洛的网》就意味着还活着。……从我第一次读《夏洛的网》到现在，几乎已经有20年过去了，我一直都没能搞明白，这部‘儿童文学’何以能够如此长久地令我着迷。” ――复旦大学中文系副教授 严锋

二）这是一部非常优秀的童话，它的主题就是动物之间的友谊。怀特一生写过3部童话，这3部童话我都翻译过，相比而言，《夏洛的网》是其中最容易懂的，他的另外两部童话含义要更深一些。特别是《小老鼠斯图尔特》，当故事最后小老鼠上路去寻找的时候，那种气氛是非常忧伤的，怀特最终也没有告诉读者斯图尔特最后的寻找是不是有什么结果，这是一种很典型的“在路上”的感觉，而《夏洛的网》就要明亮得多，它的结尾是美好的，整个故事也非常清晰。――国内著名的儿童文翻译家之一任溶溶

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