Edward Payson Whittemore (May 26, 1933 – August 3, 1995) was an American
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...
, the author of five novels written between 1974 and 1987, including the highly praised series ''Jerusalem Quartet.'' He had started his career as a case officer in the
Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Operations (Asia, Middle East and Europe) between 1958 and 1967.
Biography and writing career
The youngest of five children, Whittemore was born on May 26, 1933 in
Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644.
Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Hamp ...
, USA to John Cambridge Whittemore (1889–1958), a commercial district manager for the
New England Telephone and Telegraph Company
The New England Telephone and Telegraph Company was a very early, short lived company set up to develop the then-new telephone. It should not be confused with the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company that was formed a year later and was one ...
, and his wife Elizabeth Payson Whittemore (''née'' Prentiss; 1894–1985). He graduated from
Deering High School
Deering High School (DHS) is a public high school in Portland, Maine, United States. The school is part of the Portland Public Schools district.
It is one of the three public high schools located in Portland, the others being Portland High Scho ...
,
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...
, in 1951, and went to
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
shortly after, where he obtained a degree in history.
He joined the
Marines
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
and served as an officer on a tour of duty in Japan. Approached by the relatively recently established
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
, he was recruited into the service, when it had many men from the Ivy League universities. Working undercover as a
reporter
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
for ''
The Japan Times
''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo.
History
''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...
'' from 1958 until 1967, Whittemore traveled throughout the
Far East
The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.
The ter ...
, Europe and the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
.
It was during this time that Whittemore began working on the novels for which he is probably best known. These constitute the ''
Jerusalem Quartet
The Jerusalem Quartet is an Israeli string quartet, which made its debut in 1996. Their performance repertoire is wide and includes works of Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel
...
.'' His earlier book, ''Quin's Shanghai Circus'' (1974), contains the seeds of his series.
[Joseph L. Winland, Jr., "Opening the Window to Edward Whittemore: Systems that Govern Human Experience"](_blank)
MA Thesis (2010), Georgia State University
His books received mixed reviews. Reviewing ''Quin's Shanghai Circus'' (1974), Jerome Charyn of ''
New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
'' praised Whittemore's "ability to mythologize our recent past, to turn history into a mode of fiction …" J.S. in ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' said that he introduced "freakish impossibility" and that his book "lurched."
Whittemore's ''Sinai Tapestry'' (1977) also received mixed reviews. Anthony Heilbut of ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'' compared him favorably to Pynchon, Nabokov and Fuentes, but argued that his writing was more "lucid" and that he achieved "the solidity of history itself." Erik Korn of ''Times Literary Supplement'' was much more critical. The second book of ''The Jerusalem Quartet'', ''Jerusalem Poker,'' was also roughly received by some. ''Harper's Magazine'' praised this novel as well as its "amplification" of the previous one. On the other hand,
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
author and critic
Thomas M. Disch
Thomas Michael Disch (February 2, 1940 – July 4, 2008) was an American science fiction author and poet. He won the Hugo Award for Best Related Book – previously called "Best Non-Fiction Book" – in 1999, and he had two other Hugo nomination ...
gave ''Jerusalem Poker'' a very negative review in the ''
Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'', describing Whittemore as a
Reader's Digest
''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...
version of Pynchon.
He said that more enthusiastic appreciations were a "litany of
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
hype." He described Whittemore as an "anti-writer" with a "genteel poverty of imagination."
Many writers and critics have lauded the novels' breadth and imaginative intensity in publications such as ''
The New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
'', ''
Harper's Magazine
''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
'', ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'', ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'', ''
Locus Magazine
''Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field'', founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy (genre ...
'' and ''
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher a ...
''.
The original editions failed to achieve commercial success; about 3,000
hardcover
A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or occa ...
and 10,000
paperback
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) book ...
copies of each novel were sold. Whittemore was jealous of his privacy and refused to give interviews to "unknown correspondents," an attitude that hampered his publisher's promotion effort.
Edward Whittemore spent the final years of his life in poverty. He died on August 3, 1995 in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, shortly after being diagnosed with
prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...
.
Reissues
Out of print for many years, all five books were reissued in 2002 by
Old Earth Books
Old Earth Books is a specialty publisher which specializes in out-of-print and niche books, primarily in the science fiction genre. The name comes from the Cordwainer Smith ''Lords of the Instrumentality'' series. It is located in Baltimore, MD. I ...
. The Old Earth Books editions are now out of print, bu
Open Road Mediaannounced plans to publish eBook editions of all five novels in July 2013.
Works
* ''Quin's Shanghai Circus'' (1974)
The Jerusalem Quartet
* ''
Sinai Tapestry'' (1977)
* ''
Jerusalem Poker'' (1978)
* ''
Nile Shadows'' (1983)
* ''
Jericho Mosaic'' (1987)
References
External links
Jerusalem Dreaming a tribute site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whittemore, Edward
1933 births
1995 deaths
20th-century American novelists
American male novelists
United States Marine Corps officers
Yale College alumni
Writers from Manchester, New Hampshire
Writers from Portland, Maine
American expatriates in Israel
20th-century American male writers
Novelists from Maine
Deering High School alumni