Pleased to meet you, Joseph.

I agree with you about historicizing Whittemore's world.

As I translated Sinai Tapestry, I put together a timeline of the events in the book, which editor Gerard Klein decided to publish as an appendix of the French edition.

I'm currently completing this timeline as I translate Jerusalem Poker, and it'll eventually cover the whole Quartet.

Maybe Anne'll be interested in an English translation for this site. As a starting point to the historicizing project...

Back to deadline-fighting.

Jean-Daniel

--Previous Message--
: Hello Anne. I am very pleased to again visit
: the site and see such engaging and recent
: conversation regarding Whittemore. I am only
: disappointed that I am joining, really
: reacting to, the discussion so late.
:
: Anyway, the notion of historicizing
: Whittemore's world seems to me the first
: major step in situating his novels into some
: kind of ideological framework. It seems,
: too, a huge undertaking. His apparent
: knowledge and intentional weaving of the
: most obscure historical facts is still
: relatively unresearched. I suspect that
: each of Whittemore's characters, whether
: some historical archetype or synthesis of
: several historical figures, or an image of
: someone close to him, or formerly close to
: him, or Whittemore himself, conceals some
: relevance to a factual, documented
: individual. Each setting too, a situation
: crafted with an actual, but often
: manipulated historical event close in mind.
: That the characters and events often do not
: interact chronologically is only further
: testament to his craft. This, along with
: his rhetorical references to other works and
: his denunciation of, yet direct application
: of modern and contemporary theorists,
: Whittemore's world seems to reflect the
: random and chaotic (yet historically
: influenced) ideals as evidenced in
: Strongbowism. To consider the task of
: historicizing all four (or five) novels is
: enough discussion, or material for a
: website, for the present.
:
: Again, I really enjoyed your and
: Jean-Daniel's discussion surrounding the
: creation of a website dedicated to
: historicizing Whittemore's world. I would be
: delighted to contribute.
:
: Take care,
: Joseph
: