Meeting Edward (well, sort of..)
Posted by Nick de Gooijer


on February 26, 2018, 12:12 am
It was well after finishing reading the JQ when I found out EW had spent some time in Greece. Chania, Crete just so happens to be my family's holiday destination for years (the Greek! The Med! What's not to love?)So last year, summer 2017 and packed with JL Winland jr's thesis Opening the window I set off to the old harbor to EW's former residence. With me I carried Nile Shadows, EW's Greek book. I got a very warm welcome by Jürgen, an elderly German man who divided his time between London and Chania after first arriving on the isle in the early 70's - by racebike from Germany! Fell in love with the place and never left, sharing the place with an American he described as somewhat an einzelgänger - an Edward Whittemore. Having lived there now for well over 35 years, he showed me around the place and told me some great stories about his time there with Edward, whom he knew offcourse to be a writer. He gladly accepted the book admitting he started once when Ted was there but didn't get it, but promised to give it another go. We spent a wonderfull litlle time and it wasgreat meeting him, and I'm looking forward seeing my friend again in the future. I also found out there's another American on the isle (which isn't that much of a miracle, really) who operates a blog on the internet very inventively called An American in Crete, but I never managed to find out who that guy was - maybe later. I'll send a picture of the Crete residence, it's the building on the right, with the shutters on the second story being EW's bedroom. And just for the record: EW is just as elusive and unknown on Crete - except for Jürgen - as he is for the most of us today. But it was great being there and meeting Jürgen! All the best from Holland! Nick.
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