The 40s: The Story of a Decade (124 page)

ELIZABETH TAYLOR
(1912–1975) was a novelist and short-story writer. Her books include
A Game of Hide and Seek
(1951) and
The Real Life of Angel Deverell
(1957).

JUDITH THURMAN
began contributing to
The New Yorker
in 1987, and became a staff writer in 2000. She is the author of
Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller
(1982), which won a National Book Award;
Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette
(1999), which won a Los Angeles Times Book Award; and
Cleopatra’s Nose
(2007), a collection of her pieces from the magazine.

LIONEL TRILLING
(1905–1975) was a professor of English at Columbia whose books include
The Liberal Imagination
(1950),
The Opposing Self
(1955), and
Beyond Culture
(1965).

NICCOLÒ TUCCI
(1908–1999) was an Italian-born novelist and short-story writer who immigrated to the United States in 1938. “The Evolution of Knowledge,” reprinted here, was his first contribution to
The New Yorker.

MARK VAN DOREN
(1894–1972) was a poet, critic, and scholar. His
Collected Poems: 1922–1938
won a Pulitzer Prize.

JESSAMYN WEST
(1902–1984) was a novelist and short-story writer. Her books include
The Friendly Persuasion
(1945),
Love Is Not What You Think
(1959), and
Except for Me and Thee
(1969).

REBECCA WEST
(1892–1983) was an English journalist, literary critic, and travel writer. Her books include
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
(1941),
The Meaning of Treason
(1949), and
A Train of Powder
(1955), based on her articles about the Nuremberg trials, originally published in
The New Yorker
.

E. B. WHITE
(1899–1985) joined the staff of
The New Yorker
in 1927. He contributed humor pieces, poems, short stories, newsbreak captions, and even one cover illustration, but he was most associated with the Notes and Comment essays, which he wrote for thirty years. His books include the children’s classics
Stuart Little
(1945),
Charlotte’s Web
(1952), and
The Trumpet of the Swan
(1970). He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and an honorary Pulitzer Prize in 1978 for his work as a whole.

RICHARD WILBUR
is a poet and translator. He was the United States poet laureate from 1987 to 1988. His books include
Things of This World
(1956), which won a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, and
New and Collected Poems
(1988), which also won a Pulitzer Prize.

WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS
(1883–1963) was a poet and doctor. His books include
Spring and All
(1923),
The Desert Music and Other Poems
(1954),
Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems
(1962), which won a Pulitzer Prize, and
Paterson
(1963).

EDMUND WILSON
(1895–1972) was a critic, novelist, and poet. He became
The New Yorker
’s book critic in 1944, a position he held for many years. His numerous books include
Axel’s Castle
(1931),
To the Finland Station
(1940), and
The Shores of Light
(1952).