It was quite a sensation in 2006 when Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Three years ago Slate published a story about how the celebrated author narrowly escaped prison:
The trouble began last February, when Pamuk told the Swiss news magazine Das Magazin that “one million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in these lands and no one but me dares talk about it.” For this statement, Pamuk received death threats from Turkish nationalists and was eventually charged under a new Turkish law with “insulting” the Turkish Republic. When he went on trial in December, he faced up to three years in prison.
In Turkey, you risk imprisonment if you discuss the Armenian Genocide. It’s an entire country in forced denial.
Yet Pamuk, the country’s best-selling novelist, spoke out. Ever since he is not only the face of Turkish literature to the west, but also the face of Turkish liberalism.
Pamuk was at Barnes & Noble Union Square to discuss his new book about love, The Innocence Museum. He was practically giddy on stage in proclaiming the theme, although he was quick to point out that he does not put the emotion upon a pedestal.
He said he was interested in how love is like a car accident that hits us all. From Karen Long’s well-written review in the Plain Dealer:
Our guide into “The Museum of Innocence” is a liar, a drunk, a kleptomaniac and a spoiled Istanbul society boy named Kemal Basmaci. [....]
Pamuk begins “The Museum of Innocence” with what Kemal declares as “the happiest moment of my life, though I didn’t know it.”
Who among us does? Kemal’s moment is with a woman. In the opening paragraph, her earring drops unheeded to the sheets during their lovemaking in one of his family’s spare Istanbul apartments. The earring becomes the first exhibit in the museum.
In taking questions, Pamuk would not discuss the political tensions surrounding him back in Turkey, perhaps because last May it was reported that he may face re-trial. No doubt he does not want to add to any problems, particularly as his book is not political, although 1975 Istanbul through today is a central character in the novel. Buy the book.
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