If one had but a single glance to give the world, one should gaze on Istanbul – Alphonse de Lamartine
Orhan Pamuk is regarded as one of Turkey’s greatest authors. In 2006 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his evocative writings about life in Turkey and the city of Istanbul. While this made him the first Turkish Nobel laureate, Pamuk’s reception at home was very mixed. In 2005 his outspoken and controversial views saw Pamuck put on trial for ‘insulting Turkishness’. The resulting violence and threats to his life saw Pamuck immigrate to the United States two years later.
This complicated relationship reflects the nature of Turkey and Istanbul and is infused in Pamuk’s work. Listen back as writer and poet Michael O’Loughlin joins Susan to talk about Istanbul: Memories and the City, Orhan Pamuk’s memoirs of his city of birth and how its landscape and flavour has changed around him.
Author Orhan Pamuk
Turkey, and Istanbul especially, has long been viewed as the gateway between the East and West. This was where the armies of ancient Greece and Persia clashed, where Alexander began his march into Asia, and eventually where Islam met Christendom after Constantinople and the remnants of the Roman Empire fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. This long history of conflict and commerce had an astounding effect on the region and the city that is now Istanbul.
Straddling the Bosporus, and therefore all access to the Black Sea, Istanbul was city of massive strategic and commercial value. Though the region’s military and political significance ensured it remained culturally and religiously marked from the West these differences were softened by the region’s rampant trade and mercantilism. Granting access to the Black and the Aegean Seas as well as to Persia and the Far East Istanbul was a key location on the Silk Road and saw massive tides of multitudes of cultures wash through its streets and psyche.
The lasting effect of this cultural sharing gave Istanbul a unique flavour from other regions of Turkey and the wider Ottoman Empire. On October 29th, 1923 Turkey declared itself an independent republic. Led by Mustafa Kemal the new governing political elite set about reforming Turkey into a modern and secular nation-state. This modernising saw the fortunes of many people change as people rose and fell with the new political tides.
Istanbul in the 1890s
Orhan Pamuk was born into one of the families who had been raised up by Mustafa Kemal’s new secular state. His grandfather had made his fortune building railroads and factories during Turkey’s modernisation. This wealth gave Pamuk a large degree of freedom growing up and he was able to attend a series of private schools in Istanbul before going on to college. The beauty of the city and world around him imbued the young Pamuk with a passion for art.
Joining Istanbul Technical University Pamuk studied architecture as he thought it would aid in his dream of becoming a painter. After three years he dropped out and began studying journalism in the University of Istanbul. He soon began work on his first novel, Cevdet Bey and Sons, which was published in 1982. Though his artistic path now firmly pointed toward a career as a writer, Pamuk’s early passion for painting never really abated and it can be seen infused throughout his work.
The move from aspiring painter to aspiring writer began to pay dividends in the 1980s as Pamuk’s work found an eager audience. Drawing strongly on his own youth and experiences growing up these works captured the duality of Istanbul and resonated with the generations of Turks who were seeing their nation sway between Western secularism and Islam, traditional values and modernity. Nowhere was this dichotomy more evident than in the streets of Istanbul.
Orhan Pamuk in The Museum of Innocence
While most of Pamuk’s works are semi-autobiographical and draw on the nature and history of Istanbul these are most evident in Istanbul: Memories and the City. Published in 2003 this novel tells the life story of Pamuk and his family until he was 22 years old. As the title indicates, however, this is far more than a tale about a family and its pages are as much about the city of Istanbul that so dominated Pamuk’s youth as they are about the author’s life.
Listen back as Michael O’Loughlin takes us through the life of Orhan Pamuk and the streets of his Istanbul. We see the amazing picture Pamuk paints of the Bosporus and the city that grew on its banks, linking the worlds of the East and West together in its buildings, art, and culture. Join us as Michael tells us about the Istanbul that Pamuk wrote about and the city that he overlooked.
Give Me Everything You Have: On Being Stalked by James Lasdun
Continuing with the theme of personal memoirs Susan talks with British novelist and screenwriter James Lasdun about his latest book, Give Me Everything You Have, and the harrowing experience of being stalked.
In a situation eerily familiar to his first novel, The Horned Man, James was subjected to a concerted campaign of online harassment from one of his former pupils. Over a period of five years Nasreen (not her real name) bombarded James with hate mail and attacked his reputation with public accusations of plagiarism and sexual misconduct with his students. In Give Me Everything You Have James tells us about his own ordeal as well as highlighting the increasing threat posed by online interactions and the anonymity and facelessness found there.
In a very personal interview James talks with Susan about this invasion of his life and how he dealt with the hardship of it all. Join ‘Talking History’ as we delve into this memoir of trauma and James Lasdun’s experience with online stalking.
