Orhan Pamuk
On October 15
Seattle’s Arts and Lectures Anniversary season at Benaroya Hall
hosted Orhan Pamuk to read from several of his literary works.
Pamuk was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 2006. He
resides in
New York City
four months out of the year, where he is a lecturer at Columbia
University. His works such as Beyaz Kale, (The White
Castle), Benim Adim Kirmizi, (My Name is Red), Kar,
(Snow) and Kara Kitap, (The Black Book) and his
memoirs, Istanbul, have delved into issues of Islamism,
hüzün
(Turkish melancholy), the global village, Turkish
identity and the European question. Other Colors, his
most recent work, is a collection of meditations, art, sketches,
stories and life experiences.
After reading poignant,
poetic and humorous excerpts from
Istanbul,
Other Colors and My Name is Red, Pamuk answered
questions ranging from literary inspirations to the Armenian
Genocide and European Union accession talks and the inclusion of
Turkey
into the European Union. Pamuk is no stranger to political
discourse. Although not a politically based author, Pamuk
studied journalism in Istanbul after abandoning architecture as
his main course of study. From journalism he turned to novel
writing. Pamuk was arrested in 2006 for breaking the contentious
Turkish penal code 301 that states that persons are prohibited
from “insulting Turkish-ness and the
Turkish
Republic.” During an interview with German magazine, Das
Magazin, Pamuk is claimed to have said that he believed that
Armenians and Kurds have died unjustly on Turkish land and “no
one talks about it.” Yesterday evening, he again made a similar
comment to a question asked in regards to the Armenian question,
“Morality is being forgotten. We have to freely be able to talk
about this [in Turkey].” As for European Union accession, Pamuk
answered, “I don’t think Turkey will lose anything. I don’t the
EU will lose anything.”
Pamuk reads in Seattle
The
Istanbul
and Turkey that Pamuk has presented in many of writings have
been challenged by younger more “Europeanized” Turks, who claim
that the city they have grown up is happier, more colorful and
alive than Pamuk portrays. A country they have professed belongs
to
Europe, more than it belongs to the east. Pamuk
highlighted this during his lecture.
Lecture attendant and
University of Washington (UW) Professor of
Social Work/Sociology/Women's Studies
agreed, “Istanbul
has been a European city for centuries. European Union accession
will be good for Turkey to be challenged and to grow and make
the necessary changes.”
A young Turkish-American and
avid reader of Orhan Pamuk’s works, Jeremy Orhan Simer, notes
that, “Turkey
must become more open about its ethnic diversity and begin
dialogue.”
Another lecture
attendant and UW Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, George
Wright added that, “France will never let them [Turkey] into the
EU. Turkey still has a lot of changes to make. Orhan Pamuk has
helped in us understanding our humanity. We talk to ourselves,
we learn nothing. When you read Pamuk’s work you want to talk
about it.”
Asli Omur is a senior at the University
of Washington where she is a student of International Journalism
and International Studies. She is originally from Istanbul,
Turkey where much of her family still resides. She is very
interested in the EU’s Turkish accession debate and has written
extensively on the issues of Armenian Genocide, Kurdish/Greek
questions, Cyprus and EU membership for Turkey. She has done
correspondence and freelance for such publications as The
Turkish Times and the
Tampa Tribune.
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