Istanbul on Page & Screen - Istanbul - page 372

Through Foreign Eyes
Foreign novelists have long tried to capture the magic and mystery of İstanbul in their
work. One of the earliest to do so was French novelist Pierre Loti (1850-1923), whose ro-
mantic novel Aziyadé , written in 1879, introduced Europe to Loti's almond-eyed Turkish
lover and to the mysterious and all-pervasive attractions of the city itself.
ORHAN PAMUK
When the much-fêted Orhan Pamuk (born 1952) was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature,
the international cultural sector was largely unsurprised. The writing of the İstanbul-born, now US-
based, novelist had already attracted its fair share of critical accolades, including the IMPAC Dublin
Literary Award, The Independent newspaper's Foreign Fiction Award of the Month and every local
literary prize on offer.
In their citation, the Nobel judges said that in his 'quest for the melancholic soul of his native city'
(ie İstanbul), Pamuk had 'discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of culture'. The only
voices heard to criticise their judgment hailed from Turkey. Like Elif Şafak, Pamuk had been
charged with 'insulting Turkishness' under Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code (the charges
were dropped in early 2006), and some local commentators alleged that in his case the Nobel Prize
was awarded for political (ie freedom of speech) reasons rather than purely on the merit of his liter-
ary oeuvre.
Pamuk has written eight novels to date. His first, Cevdet Bey & His Sons (1982), is a dynastic saga
of the İstanbul bourgeoisie. It was followed by The Silent House (1983), The White Castle (1985)
and The Black Book (1990). The latter was made into a film ( Gizli Yuz ) by director Omer Kavur in
1992. After this came The New Life (1995), My Name is Red (1998), and Snow (2002). His most re-
cent novel is The Museum of Innocence (2009), a moving story of love and loss set in İstanbul circa
1975. In 2005, he published a memoir, Istanbul: Memories of a City, about the city he loves so well.
In 2012, Pamuk opened the Museum of Innocence ( CLICK HERE ) , his conceptual art project oc-
cupying an entire house in Cihangir. It was inspired by his novel of the same name.
After Loti, writers such as Harold Nicolson set popular stories in the city. Nicholson's
1921 novel Sweet Waters is a moving love story cum political thriller set in İstanbul dur-