Kudos to your site! I was only recently introduced to the brilliance of Whittemore and now am seeking to dedicate my first profound endeavor-M.A. Thesis-in literary scholarship to popularizing EW in the contemporary American canon. Since the beginning of this year I have easily and fanatically plowed through the Quartet twice. Actually, the second trip through the novels was more of an archaeological dig. Your site has certainly been helpful, especially with discovering which authors and novels EW may have kept on his own bookshelf.

While I commonly see references and comparisons to Robbins, which, to me, is something of an insult, Pynchon, though EW is less intellectually pompous, and Vonnegut, I wonder if you have any further insights to authors or novels that may have influenced EW? Garcia-Marquez? Faulkner?

Finally, it seems that Stern's ideal Middle East is fashioned after EW's own idealistic vision of the Middle East. Since most, if not all, of EW's characters are forged from some actual historical individual, should I assume,then, that Stern was created from EW's interpretation of his own self?

Again, I appreciate the site you have created and look forward to being a regular visitor.

Sincerely,
Joseph