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The White Castle
From a Turkish writer who has been compared with Borges, Nabokov, and DeLillo comes a dazzling novel that is at once a captivating work of historical fiction and a sinuous treatise on the enigma of identity and the relations between East and West.
In the 17th century, a young Italian scholar sailing from Venice to Naples is taken prisoner and delivered to Constantinople. There he falls into the custody of a scholar known as Hoja--"master"--a man who is his exact double. In the years that follow, the slave instructs his master in Western science and technology, from medicine to pyrotechnics. But Hoja wants to know more: why he and his captive are the persons they are and whether, given knowledge of each other's most intimate secrets, they could actually exchange identities.
Set in a world of magnificent scholarship and terrifying savagery, The White Castle is a colorful and intricately patterned triumph of the imagination.
In the 17th century, a young Italian scholar sailing from Venice to Naples is taken prisoner and delivered to Constantinople. There he falls into the custody of a scholar known as Hoja--"master"--a man who is his exact double. In the years that follow, the slave instructs his master in Western science and technology, from medicine to pyrotechnics. But Hoja wants to know more: why he and his captive are the persons they are and whether, given knowledge of each other's most intimate secrets, they could actually exchange identities.
Set in a world of magnificent scholarship and terrifying savagery, The White Castle is a colorful and intricately patterned triumph of the imagination.
145 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
About the author
Orhan Pamuk
113 books9,982 followersFerit Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic, and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, he has sold over 13 million books in 63 languages, making him the country's best-selling writer.
Pamuk's novels include Silent House, The White Castle, The Black Book, The New Life, My Name Is Red and Snow. He is the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he teaches writing and comparative literature. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2018.
Of partial Circassian descent and born in Istanbul, Pamuk is the first Turkish Nobel laureate. He is also the recipient of numerous other literary awards. My Name Is Red won the 2002 Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, 2002 Premio Grinzane Cavour and 2003 International Dublin Literary Award.
The European Writers' Parliament came about as a result of a joint proposal by Pamuk and José Saramago. Pamuk's willingness to write books about contentious historical and political events put him at risk of censure in his homeland. In 2005, a lawyer sued him over a statement acknowledging the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. Pamuk said his intention had been to highlight issues of freedom of speech in Turkey. The court initially declined to hear the case, but in 2011 Pamuk was ordered to pay 6,000 liras in compensation for having insulted the plaintiffs' honor.
Pamuk's novels include Silent House, The White Castle, The Black Book, The New Life, My Name Is Red and Snow. He is the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he teaches writing and comparative literature. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2018.
Of partial Circassian descent and born in Istanbul, Pamuk is the first Turkish Nobel laureate. He is also the recipient of numerous other literary awards. My Name Is Red won the 2002 Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, 2002 Premio Grinzane Cavour and 2003 International Dublin Literary Award.
The European Writers' Parliament came about as a result of a joint proposal by Pamuk and José Saramago. Pamuk's willingness to write books about contentious historical and political events put him at risk of censure in his homeland. In 2005, a lawyer sued him over a statement acknowledging the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. Pamuk said his intention had been to highlight issues of freedom of speech in Turkey. The court initially declined to hear the case, but in 2011 Pamuk was ordered to pay 6,000 liras in compensation for having insulted the plaintiffs' honor.
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December 31, 2021
Beyaz Kale = The White Castle, Orhan Pamuk
The story begins with a frame tale in the form of a preface written by historian Faruk Darvinoglu (a character referenced in Pamuk's previous book, Silent House) between 1984 and 1985, according to the fictional dedication to the character's late sister at the beginning of the frame tale.
Faruk recalls finding the story that follows in a storage room while looking through an archive in the governor's office in Gebze, among old bureaucratic papers. He takes the transcript, fascinated by its presence in such a place.
During his breaks from work, he begins trying to find a source for the tale, hoping to authenticate its events and author. He is able to connect the author to Italy, but is unable to make any further progress.
An acquaintance tells him that manuscripts such as the one he found could be found throughout the many old, wooden houses of Istanbul, mistaken for ancient Korans, and left venerated and unread. With some encouragement, he decides to publish the manuscript.
The preface ends with Faruk noting that the publisher chose the title of the book, and a remark on the nature of modern readers will try to connect the dedication to his sister to the tale that follows.
عنوانها: «دژ سفید»؛ «قلعه سفید»؛ نویسنده: اورهان پاموک؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش ماه آوریل سال2003میلادی
عنوان: دژ سفید؛ نویسنده: اورهان پاموک؛ مترجمها: فرهاد سخا، علی کاتبی؛ مشخصات نشر: تهران، نشر مرغ آمین، سال1377، در168ص، شابک9645519195؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ترکیه، سده20م
کتاب در سال1377هجری شمسی، با عنوان: «قلعه سفید»؛ و با ترجمه جناب: ارسلان فصیحی، توسط: نشر ققنوس نیز، منتشر شده است
رخدادها، در «استانبول» سده ی هفدهم میلادی روی میدهند؛ داستان درباره ی یک مرد دانشمند «ایتالیایی» است، که قصد سفر دریایی، از «ونیز» به «ناپل»، را دارد، که توسط ناوگان امپراطوری «عثمانی» بازداشت، و زندانی، و به بردگی، گرفتار میشود؛ نخست در خطر اعدام است؛ اما مردی به نام استاد («هوجا» یا همان خواجه)، که شباهت زیادی به او دارد، ایشان را به عنوان برده، میخرد؛ دانشمند «ونیزی»، به استاد، که از نزدیکان سلطان است، برای پیدا کردن ارج و قرب، نزد «پاشا»، یاری میکند؛ آندو به سلطان معرفی میشوند، تا با یاری مرد «ایتالیائی» اسلحه ی آهنین قدرتمندی بسازند؛ رمان، از سویی، تاریخ رویارویی امپراطوری «عثمانی» با «اروپایی»ها را به تصویر میکشد، و از سوی دیگر، یک قصه است؛ «پاموک» در آفرینش این اثر، که او را یک نویسنده ی جهانی کرد، از تاریخ، و فرهنگ، و آیین پیشینیان خود، الهام گرفته است؛ و چگونگی پیشرفت علم، در دنیای آن روزگار را، به مخاطبان و خوانشگران امروزی نشان داده است
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 11/10/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 09/10/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
The story begins with a frame tale in the form of a preface written by historian Faruk Darvinoglu (a character referenced in Pamuk's previous book, Silent House) between 1984 and 1985, according to the fictional dedication to the character's late sister at the beginning of the frame tale.
Faruk recalls finding the story that follows in a storage room while looking through an archive in the governor's office in Gebze, among old bureaucratic papers. He takes the transcript, fascinated by its presence in such a place.
During his breaks from work, he begins trying to find a source for the tale, hoping to authenticate its events and author. He is able to connect the author to Italy, but is unable to make any further progress.
An acquaintance tells him that manuscripts such as the one he found could be found throughout the many old, wooden houses of Istanbul, mistaken for ancient Korans, and left venerated and unread. With some encouragement, he decides to publish the manuscript.
The preface ends with Faruk noting that the publisher chose the title of the book, and a remark on the nature of modern readers will try to connect the dedication to his sister to the tale that follows.
عنوانها: «دژ سفید»؛ «قلعه سفید»؛ نویسنده: اورهان پاموک؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش ماه آوریل سال2003میلادی
عنوان: دژ سفید؛ نویسنده: اورهان پاموک؛ مترجمها: فرهاد سخا، علی کاتبی؛ مشخصات نشر: تهران، نشر مرغ آمین، سال1377، در168ص، شابک9645519195؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ترکیه، سده20م
کتاب در سال1377هجری شمسی، با عنوان: «قلعه سفید»؛ و با ترجمه جناب: ارسلان فصیحی، توسط: نشر ققنوس نیز، منتشر شده است
رخدادها، در «استانبول» سده ی هفدهم میلادی روی میدهند؛ داستان درباره ی یک مرد دانشمند «ایتالیایی» است، که قصد سفر دریایی، از «ونیز» به «ناپل»، را دارد، که توسط ناوگان امپراطوری «عثمانی» بازداشت، و زندانی، و به بردگی، گرفتار میشود؛ نخست در خطر اعدام است؛ اما مردی به نام استاد («هوجا» یا همان خواجه)، که شباهت زیادی به او دارد، ایشان را به عنوان برده، میخرد؛ دانشمند «ونیزی»، به استاد، که از نزدیکان سلطان است، برای پیدا کردن ارج و قرب، نزد «پاشا»، یاری میکند؛ آندو به سلطان معرفی میشوند، تا با یاری مرد «ایتالیائی» اسلحه ی آهنین قدرتمندی بسازند؛ رمان، از سویی، تاریخ رویارویی امپراطوری «عثمانی» با «اروپایی»ها را به تصویر میکشد، و از سوی دیگر، یک قصه است؛ «پاموک» در آفرینش این اثر، که او را یک نویسنده ی جهانی کرد، از تاریخ، و فرهنگ، و آیین پیشینیان خود، الهام گرفته است؛ و چگونگی پیشرفت علم، در دنیای آن روزگار را، به مخاطبان و خوانشگران امروزی نشان داده است
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 11/10/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 09/10/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
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October 9, 2023
The White Castle by Orhan Pamuk - Right at the outset we're given an Arabian Nights story within a story: a Faruk Darvinoglu finds a manuscript in 1982, in a forgotten archive attached to a governor's office in Gebze, a city thirty miles southeast of Istanbul.
The manuscript carries the title The Quilter's Stepson and the margins and blank pages are filled with drawings in a childish hand of men and women with tiny heads dressed in costumes with buttons. Faruk tells us some events described in the manuscript (for example, a plague) bear little resemblance to fact. However, Faruk also informs us our knowledge of history generally verifies the happenings in the manuscript.
In his capacity as a professional encyclopedist, Faruk is inclined to include an entry on the manuscript's author in the encyclopedia's history section although he's not able to verify the author in other sources. Following his assessment of the found document, Faruk alerts us to his own rendering, "My readers will see that I nourished no pretensions to style while revising the book into contemporary Turkish."
And herein we have yet again another story within a story - author Orhan Pamuk publishing a novel in modern Turkish in 1985, a novel written in highly stylized language about Faruk Darvinoglu nourishing no pretension in style in his own revision of that manuscript.
So, Faruk's statement becomes the Preface in Pamuk's The White Castle. And the novel's chapters, eleven in number, comprise the account compiled by an unnamed 17th century narrator, a Venetian scholar captured by the Turks during a navel engagement and taken to Istanbul.
The narrator is reduced to the status of slave and given over to Hoja, a Turkish courtier, a man set on reestablishing the Ottoman Empire's dominance over the West via a mastery of their science. Hoja insists the narrator teach him everything he knows.
To add even more spice to this spicy Turkish tale, the narrator and Hoja could pass for nearly identical twins.
Turning to the narrator's tale itself, in the first several chapters we're treated to, among many other things, an account of his capture, his prior life as scholar in Italy with plans of marriage, his first days and weeks, months and years with Hoja, teaching Hoja Ptolemaic astronomy, he and Hoja creating a spectacular fireworks display for a pasha's wedding, devising a geared mechanism for a clock...but then it happens: after living with his double for eleven years, Hoja becomes obsessed with a specific question: 'Why am I what I am?'
Hoja's obsession with this question reaches a point where he insists the narrator provide him with an answer. And by a very specific method - for as the narrator relates: "I must work out who I was and write it down; he would see how it was done, see how much courage I had."
Hoja's question throbs as the heartbeat of this short novel. For The White Castle is, above all else, about the nature of identity. Who is Hoja? Who is he in isolation; who is he in relation to his society; who is he in relation to his scholarly, creative, imaginative double? And who is the narrator himself? At what point does he possibly merge or switch identities with Hoja?
Hoja's question of identity becomes more pressing, more dramatic when plague infests the city. There's also Hoja's preoccupation with developing an ultimate weapon to destroy the infidels.
Orhan Pamuk is a storyteller with pizzazz, a kind of modern day Scheherazade. However, a point should be underscored and underscored again: as much as the sequence of events in The White Castle will propel a reader to keep turning those pages, it is HOW the story is told, employing precise, lively, elegant, arabesque language, that lifts the novel to the status of modern classic. A trio of direct quotes to serve as examples:
On creating fireworks over a river for all in Istanbul to see:
"Then, one by one, we released our dragons; flames spurted from their huge nostrils, their gaping mouths and pointed ears. We had them fight one another; as planned, none could defeat the other at first. We reddened the sky even more with rockets fired from shore, and after the sky had darkened a bit, our men on the caiques turned the winches and the dragons began to ascend very slowly into the sky; now everyone was screaming in fear and awe; as the rockets on the caiques were fired at once; the wicks we had placed in the bodies of the creatures must have caught fire at just the right moment, for the whole scene, exactly as we desired, was transformed into a burning inferno."
On facing execution for his refusal to convert to Islam:
"They seized me suddenly, pushing me to my knees. Just before I laid my head on the stump I was bewildered to see someone moving through the trees, as if flying; it was me, but with a long beard, walking silently on the air. I wanted to call out to the apparition of myself in the trees, but I could not speak with my head pressed against the stump. It will be no different from sleep, I thought, and let myself go, waiting: I felt a chill at my back and the nape of my neck, i didn't want to think, but the cold at my neck made me go on."
On writing at the same desk as Hoja:
"The bright symmetry of the analogy excited me as well. We sat down immediately at the table. This time I too, though half ironically, wrote 'Why I Am What I Am' across the top of the page. Right away, since it came to mind as something characteristic of my personality, I began to write down a childhood memory of my shyness. Then, when I read what Hoja was writing about the wickedness of others, I had no idea which at that moment I believed to be important, and spoke up. Hoja should write about his own faults too."
Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, born 1952
March 26, 2024
That's the Pamuk's first book I read. I am enthusiastic about discovering this writer of whom the critics speak positively.
I liked the novel's beginning, which reminded me of the tales of A Thousand and One Nights, but afterward, the idea of giving up while reading haunted me as committing suicide haunts a prisoner. So, finally, I said to myself (thinking of this Rabelaisian metaphor that a reader attaches to a book like a dog with a bone for this strand of marrow) that I must finish this book; I launched the challenge.
Ultimately, I had this magical feeling that I had read one of the greatest novels; I was despondent when I saw the last page! May this extraordinary novel be over, yet you feel smarter after reading it!
I liked the novel's beginning, which reminded me of the tales of A Thousand and One Nights, but afterward, the idea of giving up while reading haunted me as committing suicide haunts a prisoner. So, finally, I said to myself (thinking of this Rabelaisian metaphor that a reader attaches to a book like a dog with a bone for this strand of marrow) that I must finish this book; I launched the challenge.
Ultimately, I had this magical feeling that I had read one of the greatest novels; I was despondent when I saw the last page! May this extraordinary novel be over, yet you feel smarter after reading it!
January 18, 2018
Benim açımdan tek kelimeyle “kusursuz” bir okuma deneyimi oldu Beyaz Kale. Orhan Pamuk’a olan hayranlığım bir kat daha arttı. O kadar derinlikli tarihsel detayların içinde zaman atlamaları yaparak kurgu yaratma cesareti, kabiliyeti, başarısı, sonunda yaşanan dönüşüm, hatta öyle bir roman ki bana kalırsa sonunun da çok önemli olmaması, sona gelene kadar içsel tüm gerginliği, çözümlemeyi yol boyunca yaptırmış olması, ve ve ve benim için en haz verici olan kısmı “yaşattığı his” inanılmazdı!
Söze böyle girdikten sonra gelelim içeriğe.
Beyaz Kale birçok farklı şekilde okunabilecek bir roman. İlk akla gelen, Osmanlı dönemine dair bildiğimiz, araştırdığımızda bulabileceğimiz bilgileri içinde barındırmış olması gerekçesiyle “tarihi roman” oluşu. Orhan Pamuk romanın en sonuna uzunca bir not düşmüş. “Beyaz Kale tarihsel bir roman değil” demiş!. Hikaye olarak tarihin içinde konumlanmış, dopdolu, yenilikçi bir roman dememiz daha doğru o halde Beyaz Kale’ye.
Romanımızın kahramanları, Osmanlıya esir düşmüş Venedikli bir tüccar ve kendisine fiziksel olarak çok benzemesine karşın karakter olarak tam zıttı olan Hoca. Olaylar gelişir ve Venedikli tüccar köle olarak Hoca’ya satılır. Ülkede veba salgını baş göstermiştir. İkilimiz vebayı yenmek için bilimsel araştırmalar yapmaya çalışırken aslında esas bulmaya çalıştıkları şey, “insanın sahiden kim olduğudur”. Yer yer birbirlerinin içine geçmiş kadar yakınlaşıp benzeşmelerine, yer yer de birbirlerinden ölesiye tiksinip öldürmek isteyecek kadar yabancılaşmalarına tanık oluruz tüm bu tarihsel karmaşanın içinde. Uzaklaşmak yakınlaşmaya, benzemek benzememeye eş değer olur, dans eder durur zihnimizde tüm zıtlıklar. Bu ikili arasında geçen psikolojik savaşı anlatır tüm roman, arka fonda da 1600’lü yılların ikinci yarısındaki IV. Mehmet padişahlığındaki Osmanlı İmparatorluğu ve savaşın gerçek fiziksel boyutları vardır.
Son söz olarak da, Orhan Pamuk umarım en kısa zamanda bu tadı, hissi verecek, her yönden doyurucu bir romanla okuyucunun karşısına çıkar.
10/10
Gözüm kapalı tavsiye ediyorum!
Söze böyle girdikten sonra gelelim içeriğe.
Beyaz Kale birçok farklı şekilde okunabilecek bir roman. İlk akla gelen, Osmanlı dönemine dair bildiğimiz, araştırdığımızda bulabileceğimiz bilgileri içinde barındırmış olması gerekçesiyle “tarihi roman” oluşu. Orhan Pamuk romanın en sonuna uzunca bir not düşmüş. “Beyaz Kale tarihsel bir roman değil” demiş!. Hikaye olarak tarihin içinde konumlanmış, dopdolu, yenilikçi bir roman dememiz daha doğru o halde Beyaz Kale’ye.
Romanımızın kahramanları, Osmanlıya esir düşmüş Venedikli bir tüccar ve kendisine fiziksel olarak çok benzemesine karşın karakter olarak tam zıttı olan Hoca. Olaylar gelişir ve Venedikli tüccar köle olarak Hoca’ya satılır. Ülkede veba salgını baş göstermiştir. İkilimiz vebayı yenmek için bilimsel araştırmalar yapmaya çalışırken aslında esas bulmaya çalıştıkları şey, “insanın sahiden kim olduğudur”. Yer yer birbirlerinin içine geçmiş kadar yakınlaşıp benzeşmelerine, yer yer de birbirlerinden ölesiye tiksinip öldürmek isteyecek kadar yabancılaşmalarına tanık oluruz tüm bu tarihsel karmaşanın içinde. Uzaklaşmak yakınlaşmaya, benzemek benzememeye eş değer olur, dans eder durur zihnimizde tüm zıtlıklar. Bu ikili arasında geçen psikolojik savaşı anlatır tüm roman, arka fonda da 1600’lü yılların ikinci yarısındaki IV. Mehmet padişahlığındaki Osmanlı İmparatorluğu ve savaşın gerçek fiziksel boyutları vardır.
Son söz olarak da, Orhan Pamuk umarım en kısa zamanda bu tadı, hissi verecek, her yönden doyurucu bir romanla okuyucunun karşısına çıkar.
10/10
Gözüm kapalı tavsiye ediyorum!
October 25, 2011
A Short Start
I started reading this novel, because it was Pamuk's shortest and although I liked the subject matter of his other novels, I was worried I might bite off more than I could chew (I am the sort of person who must finish a book once I've started it, even if I hate it). So this was a taster for me.
From A to B Inevitably
I think it is fair to say that what happens at the end is inevitable. His craftsmanship lies in how he achieves it.
There is a moment towards the end of the book when the door opens and we're suddenly on the other side of the story.
Only we have to look back over our shoulder and think, how did I get here?
From A to B Predictably
It annoys me when people criticise a book, because they think it is predictable. Everything is predictable to someone, if not necessarily me, because I didn't see it coming. (I am not a big fan of prediction. I don't see the point.)
From A to B Enjoyably
But even if it is predictable, the skill is in the journey, the telling.
It's like a joke, or life or sex, we all know what the end is, it's what happens between now and then that matters.
Something similar might have happened to us all, it's the little differences that matter.
I started reading this novel, because it was Pamuk's shortest and although I liked the subject matter of his other novels, I was worried I might bite off more than I could chew (I am the sort of person who must finish a book once I've started it, even if I hate it). So this was a taster for me.
From A to B Inevitably
I think it is fair to say that what happens at the end is inevitable. His craftsmanship lies in how he achieves it.
There is a moment towards the end of the book when the door opens and we're suddenly on the other side of the story.
Only we have to look back over our shoulder and think, how did I get here?
From A to B Predictably
It annoys me when people criticise a book, because they think it is predictable. Everything is predictable to someone, if not necessarily me, because I didn't see it coming. (I am not a big fan of prediction. I don't see the point.)
From A to B Enjoyably
But even if it is predictable, the skill is in the journey, the telling.
It's like a joke, or life or sex, we all know what the end is, it's what happens between now and then that matters.
Something similar might have happened to us all, it's the little differences that matter.
October 17, 2024
Fortăreața albă e un roman istoric, cu care mi-am bătut capul și la prima, și la a doua lectură. Bine scris, cu imagini pregnante, cu un Istanbul mai degrabă fantasmagoric decît real. Greu de priceput și interpretat. Pare, mai degrabă, un joc lipsit de o miză evidentă. Înșir mai jos momentele principale dintr-un roman ambiguu, pe tema dublului, a perechii și, probabil, a furtului de identitate. Naratorul trimite la povestirile lui Edgar Allan Poe („William Wilson”) și Dostoievski („Dublul”). Ar fi de adăugat și textul lui Jorge Luis Borges, „Celălalt”...
1. Pe comentatorii englezi, titlul The White Castle i-a trimis imediat la Kafka, dar asta mai mult i-a încurcat. Nu văd nici o afinitate între romanului lui Pamuk și Castelul lui Kafka. Nu există nici un temei pentru o astfel de comparație.
2. Sigur că este și „o fabulă filosofică” despre identitatea personală, fară multe speculații și digresiuni abstracte. Acțiunea romanului se petrece cîndva în secolul al XVII-lea (pe la 1640-1675, să spunem), secolul lui Descartes, cu al său „ego cogito”, secolul întrebării „Cine sînt eu?”.
3. O narațiune la persoana întîi (naratorul e italian) despre un tînăr savant italian; pe drumul dintre Veneția și Napoli este răpit de pirații turci, apoi întemnițat la Istanbul. Îi convinge pe răpitori că e un medic priceput, cu studii serioase în universitățile italiene. Își tratează colegii de detenție cu succes și e admirat de pașa Sadîk. Acesta îl prezintă unui prieten, Hogea (= învățat, maestru), un om de știință excentric și exaltat.
4. Tînărul italian e intrigat de asemănarea fizică dintre ei: „Cel care intrase în odaie semăna ciudat de mult cu mine. S-ar fi zis că în locul lui mă aflam chiar eu! Aşa am gîndit în prima clipă. Era ca şi cum cineva care voia să-mi joace o festă m-ar fi făcut să mai intru o dată pe uşă” (p.26). Fac cunoștință.
5. Hogea este un studios entuziast și agitat, vrea să învețe tot ceea ce naratorul asimilase în școlile din Apus. După ce prinsul italian îl va instrui și-l va învăța totul, va fi eliberat din robie.
6. Amîndoi se pun pe studiu și lecturi: „Aşa am început să trudim, ca doi elevi silitori, ca doi fraţi buni care-şi fac lecţiile cu rîvnă” (p.39); „După şase luni, nu mai eram doi oameni care studiau şi progresau împreună. EI gîndea, în vreme ce eu nu făceam altceva decît să-i amintesc unele amănunte sau să-l ajut să revadă ceea ce ştia deja” (p.40).
7. Pe Hogea îl obsedează o întrebare: cine este el cu adevărat? Ce-l deosebește de ceilalți indivizi? La îndemnul lui Hogea, își consemnează amîndoi biografiile: „Astfel, în răstimp de două luni, am aflat despre viaţa lui cît nu izbutisem să aflu în unsprezece ani” (p.78). Apoi naratorul adaugă: „L-am încurajat să continue, poate şi pentru că simţeam, încă de pe atunci, că aveam să-mi însuşesc mai apoi felul lui de a fi şi povestea vieţii lui” (p.79).
8. Trăiesc în Istanbul un episod de ciumă bubonică: „În oraș se ivise ciuma” (p.88). Italianul îi explică lui Hogea măsurile care se iau în Europa cînd izbucnește o molimă: respectarea igienei, separarea și carantina: „Am vrut să se lepede de zadarnica trufie a neînfricării: mi-am dezvăluit toate cunoştinţele medicale” (p.90).
9. Treptat își dau seama că încep să se confunde, asemănarea devine identitate. Despuiați, se uită amîndoi în oglindă. Par întru totul asemenea: „El trebuia să fie ca mine. Amîndoi eram unul!” (p.103). Hogea îi declară: „Acum știu în ce fel te-am speriat. Eu am devenit tu” (p.105). „Nu înceta să îmi repete că eu eram el și că el era eu” (p.107). La sfîrșitul epidemiei, se împlinesc 15 ani de cînd Venețianul e captiv / rob la turci.
10. Hogea e numit de Padișah Mai-marele astrologilor, „astrolog imperial”. Visul lui însă este să construiască „o armă uriașă, care să-i gonească pe toți” (p.133). Padișahul îi cere Hogei să construiască această „armă de necrezut” (p.138). Muncește la ea șase ani. Cînd, peste un lung răstimp, izbucnește un război cu Țara Leșilor, Hogea e chemat să-și aducă arma în tabăra de la Edirne. Uriașa mașinărie îi înspăimîntă pe soldați.
11. Merg la curte împreună. Padișahul observă asemănarea uluitoare dintre ei și începe să se întrebe „cît din Hogea era Hogea şi cît eram eu, aşa cum se întreba şi cît din mine eram eu şi cît era Hogea” (p.143). Naratorul își spune uimit: „îmi venea să cred că, fără să ne dăm seama, personalitatea mea se desprinsese de mine şi se contopise cu cea a Hogei, iar personalitatea Hogei se contopise cu a mea” (p.144).
12. Călătoresc pe Dunăre. Ajung în fața fortăreței albe. Vederea ei îi uluiește pe toți: „Am văzut fortăreaţa după ce a asfinţit soarele… Era aşezată pe o coamă destul de înaltă; soarele care apunea îşi arunca roşeaţa nedesluşită asupra turnurilor pe care fluturau flamuri, dar ea era albă - albă ca neaua şi frumoasă. Nu pot spune de ce, dar m-am gândit că doar în vise mai poţi vedea asemenea lucruri minunate, de neatins” (p.177). Toți simt că cetățuia e de necucerit, inviolabilă. Arma lui Hogea nu e de nici un folos.
13. Hotărăsc să-și schimbe straiele între ei și se despart: „Ne-am schimbat veşmintele între noi, fără a ne lăsa cuprinşi de nelinişte şi fără a scoate o vorbă. I-am dat inelul meu şi medalionul pe care izbutisem să-l ţin la fereală de el vreme de ani de zile. Inlăuntrul lui se aflau portretul străbunicii mele dinspre mamă şi o şuviţă din părul logodnicei mele, care încărunţise de la sine. Cred că i-a plăcut, pentru că şi l-a atîrnat la gît. Apoi a ieşit din cort şi dus a fost. L-am urmărit cum se pierdea, puţin cîte puţin, în ceaţa tăcută...” (pp.179-180).
14. Hogea (sau dublul lui) se stabilește la Veneția: „Aveam o poveste care s-ar fi putut să-i placă, despre doi oameni care îşi luaseră locul unul celuilalt” (p.190). Bun, și-au schimbat între ei identitățile. Și ce pot deduce din asta? Deocamdată, nu găsesc un răspuns. (note provizorii, 7.09.24, s).
1. Pe comentatorii englezi, titlul The White Castle i-a trimis imediat la Kafka, dar asta mai mult i-a încurcat. Nu văd nici o afinitate între romanului lui Pamuk și Castelul lui Kafka. Nu există nici un temei pentru o astfel de comparație.
2. Sigur că este și „o fabulă filosofică” despre identitatea personală, fară multe speculații și digresiuni abstracte. Acțiunea romanului se petrece cîndva în secolul al XVII-lea (pe la 1640-1675, să spunem), secolul lui Descartes, cu al său „ego cogito”, secolul întrebării „Cine sînt eu?”.
3. O narațiune la persoana întîi (naratorul e italian) despre un tînăr savant italian; pe drumul dintre Veneția și Napoli este răpit de pirații turci, apoi întemnițat la Istanbul. Îi convinge pe răpitori că e un medic priceput, cu studii serioase în universitățile italiene. Își tratează colegii de detenție cu succes și e admirat de pașa Sadîk. Acesta îl prezintă unui prieten, Hogea (= învățat, maestru), un om de știință excentric și exaltat.
4. Tînărul italian e intrigat de asemănarea fizică dintre ei: „Cel care intrase în odaie semăna ciudat de mult cu mine. S-ar fi zis că în locul lui mă aflam chiar eu! Aşa am gîndit în prima clipă. Era ca şi cum cineva care voia să-mi joace o festă m-ar fi făcut să mai intru o dată pe uşă” (p.26). Fac cunoștință.
5. Hogea este un studios entuziast și agitat, vrea să învețe tot ceea ce naratorul asimilase în școlile din Apus. După ce prinsul italian îl va instrui și-l va învăța totul, va fi eliberat din robie.
6. Amîndoi se pun pe studiu și lecturi: „Aşa am început să trudim, ca doi elevi silitori, ca doi fraţi buni care-şi fac lecţiile cu rîvnă” (p.39); „După şase luni, nu mai eram doi oameni care studiau şi progresau împreună. EI gîndea, în vreme ce eu nu făceam altceva decît să-i amintesc unele amănunte sau să-l ajut să revadă ceea ce ştia deja” (p.40).
7. Pe Hogea îl obsedează o întrebare: cine este el cu adevărat? Ce-l deosebește de ceilalți indivizi? La îndemnul lui Hogea, își consemnează amîndoi biografiile: „Astfel, în răstimp de două luni, am aflat despre viaţa lui cît nu izbutisem să aflu în unsprezece ani” (p.78). Apoi naratorul adaugă: „L-am încurajat să continue, poate şi pentru că simţeam, încă de pe atunci, că aveam să-mi însuşesc mai apoi felul lui de a fi şi povestea vieţii lui” (p.79).
8. Trăiesc în Istanbul un episod de ciumă bubonică: „În oraș se ivise ciuma” (p.88). Italianul îi explică lui Hogea măsurile care se iau în Europa cînd izbucnește o molimă: respectarea igienei, separarea și carantina: „Am vrut să se lepede de zadarnica trufie a neînfricării: mi-am dezvăluit toate cunoştinţele medicale” (p.90).
9. Treptat își dau seama că încep să se confunde, asemănarea devine identitate. Despuiați, se uită amîndoi în oglindă. Par întru totul asemenea: „El trebuia să fie ca mine. Amîndoi eram unul!” (p.103). Hogea îi declară: „Acum știu în ce fel te-am speriat. Eu am devenit tu” (p.105). „Nu înceta să îmi repete că eu eram el și că el era eu” (p.107). La sfîrșitul epidemiei, se împlinesc 15 ani de cînd Venețianul e captiv / rob la turci.
10. Hogea e numit de Padișah Mai-marele astrologilor, „astrolog imperial”. Visul lui însă este să construiască „o armă uriașă, care să-i gonească pe toți” (p.133). Padișahul îi cere Hogei să construiască această „armă de necrezut” (p.138). Muncește la ea șase ani. Cînd, peste un lung răstimp, izbucnește un război cu Țara Leșilor, Hogea e chemat să-și aducă arma în tabăra de la Edirne. Uriașa mașinărie îi înspăimîntă pe soldați.
11. Merg la curte împreună. Padișahul observă asemănarea uluitoare dintre ei și începe să se întrebe „cît din Hogea era Hogea şi cît eram eu, aşa cum se întreba şi cît din mine eram eu şi cît era Hogea” (p.143). Naratorul își spune uimit: „îmi venea să cred că, fără să ne dăm seama, personalitatea mea se desprinsese de mine şi se contopise cu cea a Hogei, iar personalitatea Hogei se contopise cu a mea” (p.144).
12. Călătoresc pe Dunăre. Ajung în fața fortăreței albe. Vederea ei îi uluiește pe toți: „Am văzut fortăreaţa după ce a asfinţit soarele… Era aşezată pe o coamă destul de înaltă; soarele care apunea îşi arunca roşeaţa nedesluşită asupra turnurilor pe care fluturau flamuri, dar ea era albă - albă ca neaua şi frumoasă. Nu pot spune de ce, dar m-am gândit că doar în vise mai poţi vedea asemenea lucruri minunate, de neatins” (p.177). Toți simt că cetățuia e de necucerit, inviolabilă. Arma lui Hogea nu e de nici un folos.
13. Hotărăsc să-și schimbe straiele între ei și se despart: „Ne-am schimbat veşmintele între noi, fără a ne lăsa cuprinşi de nelinişte şi fără a scoate o vorbă. I-am dat inelul meu şi medalionul pe care izbutisem să-l ţin la fereală de el vreme de ani de zile. Inlăuntrul lui se aflau portretul străbunicii mele dinspre mamă şi o şuviţă din părul logodnicei mele, care încărunţise de la sine. Cred că i-a plăcut, pentru că şi l-a atîrnat la gît. Apoi a ieşit din cort şi dus a fost. L-am urmărit cum se pierdea, puţin cîte puţin, în ceaţa tăcută...” (pp.179-180).
14. Hogea (sau dublul lui) se stabilește la Veneția: „Aveam o poveste care s-ar fi putut să-i placă, despre doi oameni care îşi luaseră locul unul celuilalt” (p.190). Bun, și-au schimbat între ei identitățile. Și ce pot deduce din asta? Deocamdată, nu găsesc un răspuns. (note provizorii, 7.09.24, s).
August 22, 2014
Warning: you have to relax to read this book, just let go and let it take you where it wants.
This is a novel on identity: the plot really does not matter (is this the defining feature of good literature?), the crucial point is how two individuals actually become one, to the point that we no longer know ourselves who is whom.
Is the Italian slave really taking the place of his "hoja" (i.e. master, according to Adam Shatz in the London Review of Books), are they really swapping lives as previously fantasised?
Or is this really a fantasy in itself, of the Turk, the Hoja, so disappointed with his fellow Turks, so disgusted with their intellectual inferiority, with their passiveness, with their lack of imagination, so much craving for the intellectually stimulating life that he can just barely perceive through the bearing, knowledge and stories of his learned slave, that he decides to live this swapped fantasy himself, willing himself to believe that he is no longer the Hoja, but the Italian former slave?
The conclusion I want to believe is the latter - it is the Italian that really flees the siege of the White Castle, and who knows whether he ever reached his native land - and maybe good for him if he did not, what could have come out of such an impossible readjustment? Or maybe, it is Hoja himself who killed him on that fateful night, with such quintessentially unreliable narrator we will never really know.
But I like to think that having finally reached that zenith he had been aspiring too for so many years, accepting the inevitable debacle was too much to bear, and finding comfort in living a dream nobody could take away from him almost unescapable.
A great read.
This is a novel on identity: the plot really does not matter (is this the defining feature of good literature?), the crucial point is how two individuals actually become one, to the point that we no longer know ourselves who is whom.
Is the Italian slave really taking the place of his "hoja" (i.e. master, according to Adam Shatz in the London Review of Books), are they really swapping lives as previously fantasised?
Or is this really a fantasy in itself, of the Turk, the Hoja, so disappointed with his fellow Turks, so disgusted with their intellectual inferiority, with their passiveness, with their lack of imagination, so much craving for the intellectually stimulating life that he can just barely perceive through the bearing, knowledge and stories of his learned slave, that he decides to live this swapped fantasy himself, willing himself to believe that he is no longer the Hoja, but the Italian former slave?
The conclusion I want to believe is the latter - it is the Italian that really flees the siege of the White Castle, and who knows whether he ever reached his native land - and maybe good for him if he did not, what could have come out of such an impossible readjustment? Or maybe, it is Hoja himself who killed him on that fateful night, with such quintessentially unreliable narrator we will never really know.
But I like to think that having finally reached that zenith he had been aspiring too for so many years, accepting the inevitable debacle was too much to bear, and finding comfort in living a dream nobody could take away from him almost unescapable.
A great read.
April 2, 2017
Yaklaşık 20 yıl sonra yeniden okuduğum Beyaz Kale'yi bu defa daha çok sevdim. İlk okuduğum zamanlarda (sanırım daha yirmi değildim); okunması gereken her şeyi sırayla okuyup, yanına bir tik atan, aç bir genç okurdum sadece. Şimdi daha sindire sindire, keyifli okumalar yapıyorum. eskiden okuyup rafa kaldırdığım, hakkı az verilmiş romanlar olduğunu yeni yeni idrak ediyorum. Beyaz Kale kesinlikle bu romanlardan biri.
Çocuk yaşta tahta oturtulan hayvanlara meraklı Padişah Avcı Mehmet zamanında geçen hikayede Türklere esir düşmüş bir Venedikli ile fiziksel olarak tıpatıp benzeri ve sahibi Hoca'nın şahsında ikizlik, ötekilik, doğu-batı, bizler-onlar, ben ve o kavramlarını sorgulanıyor. Arka planı Osmanlı padişahının etrafındaki müneccimler, av seferleri, veba salgını gibi ilginç tarihsel olgular doldurmuş. Bu kısacık kitap, yığınla bilgiyi kahramanların kişisel buhranları eşliğinde kusursuz bir tarihsel atmosferde geçiriyor okuyucuya.
Orhan Pamuk'un en iyi romanı değil bence ama edebiyatta öteki, ikiz kavramlarına ilgi duyanların mutlaka okuması gereken bir eser. Öncesinde Dostoyevski'nin Öteki romanı okunursa daha bir lezzetli olabilir..
Çocuk yaşta tahta oturtulan hayvanlara meraklı Padişah Avcı Mehmet zamanında geçen hikayede Türklere esir düşmüş bir Venedikli ile fiziksel olarak tıpatıp benzeri ve sahibi Hoca'nın şahsında ikizlik, ötekilik, doğu-batı, bizler-onlar, ben ve o kavramlarını sorgulanıyor. Arka planı Osmanlı padişahının etrafındaki müneccimler, av seferleri, veba salgını gibi ilginç tarihsel olgular doldurmuş. Bu kısacık kitap, yığınla bilgiyi kahramanların kişisel buhranları eşliğinde kusursuz bir tarihsel atmosferde geçiriyor okuyucuya.
Orhan Pamuk'un en iyi romanı değil bence ama edebiyatta öteki, ikiz kavramlarına ilgi duyanların mutlaka okuması gereken bir eser. Öncesinde Dostoyevski'nin Öteki romanı okunursa daha bir lezzetli olabilir..
July 30, 2018
This book starts with a foreword from a (made-up) finder who found the story in an archive - and who gives the book its 'dedication to-'.... I kind of like books that start like this. Anyway, the story seems to be partly fact, partly fiction, a story of 1600s Istanbul where two similar-looking men form a strange friendship.
The author is the one half of this, remaining nameless throughout, an Italian who was captured and sold to slavery by pirates, finally owned by Hoca (a title, no real name for him is given, either), an 'insufferable genius' with constantly-changing temper and high opinion of himself; the writer is more like opposite: an observer, calm-tempered, worrier...
A bond forms, firstly in that they learn from each other, not just knowledge, but of their lives, though Hoca keeps the information of the latter more secret. Helping each other, they finally gain the attention and trust of the young sultan (we follow the story from sultan's late childhood on, to youth, to manhood), through stories, interesting books, guessing the future cleverly, and finally by a promise for a great weapon for battle.
There's many things to think about in this story, many elements. Like the writer, we can wonder about why Hoca is like he is, why he needs the division between himself and 'them', why he fears vulnerability, the reason for his temper? There is the question about identity: the two main characters are similar, and the information-sharing makes the line between them blur. In the end, I feel that the one who In a way, it feels like the sultan learns some of his mind-games skills from Hoca, as he .
The book has a plot, but I feel it's more of a musing-piece on indentity, on belonging, on 'what is genius?' Hard to pinpoint exactly. Yet I feel it's a book I want to reread, and I feel it was good to start reading the author from here; well worth it.
The author is the one half of this, remaining nameless throughout, an Italian who was captured and sold to slavery by pirates, finally owned by Hoca (a title, no real name for him is given, either), an 'insufferable genius' with constantly-changing temper and high opinion of himself; the writer is more like opposite: an observer, calm-tempered, worrier...
A bond forms, firstly in that they learn from each other, not just knowledge, but of their lives, though Hoca keeps the information of the latter more secret. Helping each other, they finally gain the attention and trust of the young sultan (we follow the story from sultan's late childhood on, to youth, to manhood), through stories, interesting books, guessing the future cleverly, and finally by a promise for a great weapon for battle.
There's many things to think about in this story, many elements. Like the writer, we can wonder about why Hoca is like he is, why he needs the division between himself and 'them', why he fears vulnerability, the reason for his temper? There is the question about identity: the two main characters are similar, and the information-sharing makes the line between them blur. In the end, I feel that the one who In a way, it feels like the sultan learns some of his mind-games skills from Hoca, as he .
The book has a plot, but I feel it's more of a musing-piece on indentity, on belonging, on 'what is genius?' Hard to pinpoint exactly. Yet I feel it's a book I want to reread, and I feel it was good to start reading the author from here; well worth it.
October 9, 2022
What defines each of us? What makes us lazy? Ambitious? Do good? Fall prey to evil? Perhaps we can only see ourselves in others? A mirror of our inner realities.
Orhan Pamuk sets up a story within a story. A forgotten book, “The Quilter’s Stepson” tells the tale of two men, a Venetian and a Turk in the 17th century Ottoman Empire. We are never told the name of the Venetian but we learn of his background: a young scholar, engaged to be married who is captured and sold into slavery in Istanbul.
His master is Hoja (the name means “master”). The curiosity is the two men are almost identical. Hoja wants the scholar to teach him everything, and in doing so he can advance further in the young Sultan’s court. As a slave, the Venetian submits to teaching Hoja what he knows; Hoja demands more, a sort of friendship based on fear and respect.
They first are noticed putting on fireworks for the eight year old Sultan. The boy is delighted. Then they get their next big break, many years later when a plague takes the city. Their advice: lock down the city, restrict travel, and keep safe distance from others. Hmm, good advice. It works and the sultan takes notice.
The two men, after twenty years fall into a strange relationship. Their closeness reveals their inner traits. The Venetian is horrified by Hoja’s cruelty; Hoja by the Venetian’s “soft” past. What makes each tick? Love? hate? Something the other has? Wants?
Their next big challenge is creating a machine of war for the Sultan’s next big battle. The Venetian is seduced by the fame; Hoja is obsessed with his own success/failure. Off they go to victory.
Pamuk is a master at asking us questions, making us wonder what will happen next? This duality is very noticeable. The Venetian has no name; the Turk is simply the master. Yet the master learns from the slave. One is Western; the other, Eastern. They each have their baggage. The Venetian is steeped in humanism; the Turk, in mysticism. They each have their religions, their cultures, their past. Yet, both focus on learning. What makes the universe move? What makes us us?
The book reminded me of Calvino, who also was a master of story telling and asking big questions. Although it is a short book, I read slowly thanks to all these powerful questions. I even thought of a different income, something I rarely do. It must have been all these pondering that sit me adrift in a story, far away off the Turkish coast in another time and space?
A big shout out to Glenn, for his recent and enlightening review that inspired me to pick up Pamuk again.
Orhan Pamuk sets up a story within a story. A forgotten book, “The Quilter’s Stepson” tells the tale of two men, a Venetian and a Turk in the 17th century Ottoman Empire. We are never told the name of the Venetian but we learn of his background: a young scholar, engaged to be married who is captured and sold into slavery in Istanbul.
His master is Hoja (the name means “master”). The curiosity is the two men are almost identical. Hoja wants the scholar to teach him everything, and in doing so he can advance further in the young Sultan’s court. As a slave, the Venetian submits to teaching Hoja what he knows; Hoja demands more, a sort of friendship based on fear and respect.
They first are noticed putting on fireworks for the eight year old Sultan. The boy is delighted. Then they get their next big break, many years later when a plague takes the city. Their advice: lock down the city, restrict travel, and keep safe distance from others. Hmm, good advice. It works and the sultan takes notice.
The two men, after twenty years fall into a strange relationship. Their closeness reveals their inner traits. The Venetian is horrified by Hoja’s cruelty; Hoja by the Venetian’s “soft” past. What makes each tick? Love? hate? Something the other has? Wants?
Their next big challenge is creating a machine of war for the Sultan’s next big battle. The Venetian is seduced by the fame; Hoja is obsessed with his own success/failure. Off they go to victory.
Pamuk is a master at asking us questions, making us wonder what will happen next? This duality is very noticeable. The Venetian has no name; the Turk is simply the master. Yet the master learns from the slave. One is Western; the other, Eastern. They each have their baggage. The Venetian is steeped in humanism; the Turk, in mysticism. They each have their religions, their cultures, their past. Yet, both focus on learning. What makes the universe move? What makes us us?
The book reminded me of Calvino, who also was a master of story telling and asking big questions. Although it is a short book, I read slowly thanks to all these powerful questions. I even thought of a different income, something I rarely do. It must have been all these pondering that sit me adrift in a story, far away off the Turkish coast in another time and space?
A big shout out to Glenn, for his recent and enlightening review that inspired me to pick up Pamuk again.
August 21, 2017
7 / 10
Kitabın sonunda O.Pamuk'un kaleme aldığı sonsöz, hem samimi hem de doyurucuydu.
Sonsözü okumasaydım bazı şeyler bende havada kalmış olacaktı. Pamuk okurken hep fazladan beklenti içindeyim (belki aldığı ödül nedeniyle ) Beklentimi karşılamadı ancak keyif aldım diyebilirim.
Kitabın sonunda O.Pamuk'un kaleme aldığı sonsöz, hem samimi hem de doyurucuydu.
Sonsözü okumasaydım bazı şeyler bende havada kalmış olacaktı. Pamuk okurken hep fazladan beklenti içindeyim (belki aldığı ödül nedeniyle ) Beklentimi karşılamadı ancak keyif aldım diyebilirim.
March 21, 2017
"He did not want to think about how terrible the world would be if men spoke always of themselves, of their own peculiarities if their books and their stories were always about this"
I don't know how to write a review for such a book!
I'm sure it deserves more than 3 stars cause it's a unique and one of a kind story but I haven't enjoyed it that much
The ending was vague as were the characters
sometimes I thought the character Hoja was mentally disturbed and sometimes I thought he was a genius.
as for his look alike, the slave who actually the story was about. he was brilliant. sometimes driven by his own emotion but he had something about him that made him superior to Hoja. perhaps it was his honesty.
this book left me with mixed emotion.
it's basically about a Turkish Muslim Scholar and his Christian Italian Slave who refuses to convert to Islam. The Master and his Slave look exactly alike!
they spend all of their time together. they develop a weird bond between friendship and brotherhood.
"I loved him, I loved him the way I loved that helpless, wretched ghost of my own self I saw in my dreams, as if choking on the shame, rage, sinfulness, and melancholy of that ghost, as if overcome with shame at the sight of a wild animal dying in pain or enraged by the selfishness of a spoilt son of my own. and perhaps most of all I loved him with the stupid revulsion and stupid joy of knowing my self"
I don't know how to write a review for such a book!
I'm sure it deserves more than 3 stars cause it's a unique and one of a kind story but I haven't enjoyed it that much
The ending was vague as were the characters
sometimes I thought the character Hoja was mentally disturbed and sometimes I thought he was a genius.
as for his look alike, the slave who actually the story was about. he was brilliant. sometimes driven by his own emotion but he had something about him that made him superior to Hoja. perhaps it was his honesty.
this book left me with mixed emotion.
it's basically about a Turkish Muslim Scholar and his Christian Italian Slave who refuses to convert to Islam. The Master and his Slave look exactly alike!
they spend all of their time together. they develop a weird bond between friendship and brotherhood.
"I loved him, I loved him the way I loved that helpless, wretched ghost of my own self I saw in my dreams, as if choking on the shame, rage, sinfulness, and melancholy of that ghost, as if overcome with shame at the sight of a wild animal dying in pain or enraged by the selfishness of a spoilt son of my own. and perhaps most of all I loved him with the stupid revulsion and stupid joy of knowing my self"
June 23, 2016
لا أدري ولكن اما ان ذائقتي الادبية تاثرت بابتعادي لفترة عن القراءة ...و اما ان هذه الرواية ليست سوى عن مجموعة من "المخبولين"كتبت في لحظة غباء...في البداية ظننت ان هناك شيئا من الشبه بينها و بين "ليون الافريقي"لامين معلوف و لكن ما ان تجاوزت اولى الصفحات حتى ادركت انها ابعد ما يكون عن ذلك ....طريقة السرد مملة زادتها سوءا الترجمة السيئة...تركيبة الشخصيات غريبة حتى لا اقول ضعيفة...توقعت اكثر من هذه الرواية
August 2, 2021
Bir Kürt olarak Orhan Pamuk'u seviyorum, olamaz mi?
طبق عادت همیشگی مثل یه خر به کتابفروشی رفته بودم .داشتم اسم کتابها رو نگاه میکردم و گاها وقتی کسی چشمش بهم نبود دزدکی از روی شورت تجاوزی هم بهشون میکردم .در همین اثنا یک زوج جوون وارد کتابفروشی شدن،گویا داشتن رد میشدن و وارد شده بودن ببینن کتابفروشی ،کتابفروشی که میگن چطور جایی هست!.
از خدا که پنهون نیست ازشما چه پنهون بی خیال اونها نمیتونستم بشم چون خانومه چیز خیلی دافی بود.داف که میگم یعنی دااااااف هاااااا.
اونها «یعنی خانوم پلنگ و دوست پسرش» هم مثل من داشتن به کتاب ها تجاوز میکردن اما از جلو و عقب خودشم آشکارا!.به کتاب ملت عشق الیف شافاک رسیدن .دوست پسر پلنگه به صاحب کتابفروشی گفت : جناب دکتر من در مورد این کتاب اونقدر بد شنیدم که نمیخوام بخونمش ،نظرتون راجع به این کتاب چیه؟
صاح�� کتاب فروشی گفت؛ پیمان جان اگر زحمتی نیست لطفا این کتاب رو برای این دوستانمون یکم توضیح بده.منظورش این بود کاری کن خر شن.!
شروع کردم به کصشر بافتن ،اونقدر بافتم،اونقدر بافتم که دیگه کم مونده بود خودم هم یه نسخه از کتاب رو بخرم! .
دختر سکسی فهمیده بود عاشق ادبیات ترکی هستم.و من
فقط میخواستم صحبت با پلنگه به درازا بکشه.
عجب پاهایی داشت.دراز و باریک و خوش فرم.سینههایی که مثل انار سفید بودن. البته تصور میکردم سفید باشن ...
خداکنه که اشتباه قضاوت نکرده باشم و سفید بوده باشن.
حاضر بودم هرچه خوندم و درجا به شلوار جینش تقدیم کنم.
فکر میکنم همهی اون کله گندهها «نویسندهها» هم با این قضیه مشکلی نداشته باشن .
البته شاید داستایفسکی کمی ملا بازی در بیاره اما قول میدم اونم اگه پلنگه رو میدید ،میریخت.دلش رو میگم...
دلم نمیخواست پلنگه رو ول کنم،کاش در مورد تمامی کتاب ها سوال میپرسید !
لباش و هنوز به خاطر دارم.لبهایی که توتفرنگی شده بودن.میشد با لب هاش یه ج...حسابی زد.
اما مثل آخر داستان های جان اشتاینبک ورق همه چی به یک باره برگشت...
همه چیز رو با جمله آخرش خراب کرد.!
رید تو هرچی حشریت منه.
گفت خیلی خوشحالم که یه جوان تُرک اینقدر به ادبیات خودش علاقه داره.
گفتم من کورد هستم :)
لبخندی هم زدم.تا انتقام گرفته باشم.
تمام شد.
طبق عادت همیشگی مثل یه خر به کتابفروشی رفته بودم .داشتم اسم کتابها رو نگاه میکردم و گاها وقتی کسی چشمش بهم نبود دزدکی از روی شورت تجاوزی هم بهشون میکردم .در همین اثنا یک زوج جوون وارد کتابفروشی شدن،گویا داشتن رد میشدن و وارد شده بودن ببینن کتابفروشی ،کتابفروشی که میگن چطور جایی هست!.
از خدا که پنهون نیست ازشما چه پنهون بی خیال اونها نمیتونستم بشم چون خانومه چیز خیلی دافی بود.داف که میگم یعنی دااااااف هاااااا.
اونها «یعنی خانوم پلنگ و دوست پسرش» هم مثل من داشتن به کتاب ها تجاوز میکردن اما از جلو و عقب خودشم آشکارا!.به کتاب ملت عشق الیف شافاک رسیدن .دوست پسر پلنگه به صاحب کتابفروشی گفت : جناب دکتر من در مورد این کتاب اونقدر بد شنیدم که نمیخوام بخونمش ،نظرتون راجع به این کتاب چیه؟
صاح�� کتاب فروشی گفت؛ پیمان جان اگر زحمتی نیست لطفا این کتاب رو برای این دوستانمون یکم توضیح بده.منظورش این بود کاری کن خر شن.!
شروع کردم به کصشر بافتن ،اونقدر بافتم،اونقدر بافتم که دیگه کم مونده بود خودم هم یه نسخه از کتاب رو بخرم! .
دختر سکسی فهمیده بود عاشق ادبیات ترکی هستم.و من
فقط میخواستم صحبت با پلنگه به درازا بکشه.
عجب پاهایی داشت.دراز و باریک و خوش فرم.سینههایی که مثل انار سفید بودن. البته تصور میکردم سفید باشن ...
خداکنه که اشتباه قضاوت نکرده باشم و سفید بوده باشن.
حاضر بودم هرچه خوندم و درجا به شلوار جینش تقدیم کنم.
فکر میکنم همهی اون کله گندهها «نویسندهها» هم با این قضیه مشکلی نداشته باشن .
البته شاید داستایفسکی کمی ملا بازی در بیاره اما قول میدم اونم اگه پلنگه رو میدید ،میریخت.دلش رو میگم...
دلم نمیخواست پلنگه رو ول کنم،کاش در مورد تمامی کتاب ها سوال میپرسید !
لباش و هنوز به خاطر دارم.لبهایی که توتفرنگی شده بودن.میشد با لب هاش یه ج...حسابی زد.
اما مثل آخر داستان های جان اشتاینبک ورق همه چی به یک باره برگشت...
همه چیز رو با جمله آخرش خراب کرد.!
رید تو هرچی حشریت منه.
گفت خیلی خوشحالم که یه جوان تُرک اینقدر به ادبیات خودش علاقه داره.
گفتم من کورد هستم :)
لبخندی هم زدم.تا انتقام گرفته باشم.
تمام شد.
September 27, 2017
رفتم نظری که برای این کتاب داده بودم 2سال پیش رو خوندم....
اوه اوه....خیلی تند بود...از انتشارات گرفته تا الودگی هوا و تا حوزه ادبیات کودک و نوجوان و علم و خانواده!!!وای
هیچی دیگه...حتی میشه داستانی از پاموک رو دوست نداشت!
اوه اوه....خیلی تند بود...از انتشارات گرفته تا الودگی هوا و تا حوزه ادبیات کودک و نوجوان و علم و خانواده!!!وای
هیچی دیگه...حتی میشه داستانی از پاموک رو دوست نداشت!
January 2, 2018
Video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po4dQ...
Featured in my Top 20 Books I Read in 2017
It'll make you feel wonderfully sinister. A dreamy, absorbing novel that's very dense but immensely captivating - on par with the weirdest fiction of Calvino, Borges or Hoffmann.
Featured in my Top 20 Books I Read in 2017
It'll make you feel wonderfully sinister. A dreamy, absorbing novel that's very dense but immensely captivating - on par with the weirdest fiction of Calvino, Borges or Hoffmann.
March 23, 2022
Orhan Pamuk okumalarımda üçüncü adım. Kısa olmasına rağmen yoğun, sindirilmesi gereken bir roman Beyaz Kale. Bazı hikayeleri bitirir bitirmez tekrar başlamak, artık tamamını bildiğiniz için bir de o farkındalıkla okumak/izlemek istersiniz ya, Beyaz Kale'yi bitirdiğimde de tam olarak böyle hissettim.
Merkezinde kimlik meselesi -ben neden benim?- olan hikayenin nereye gittiğini daha başlarda anlamak mümkün aslında, yavaş yavaş kaçınılmaz sona doğru ilerlediğinizi fark ediyorsunuz ama son öyle güzel yazılmış ki yine de etkiliyor sizi. Birçok eleştirinin yanı sıra kitabın sonsözünde yazarın da bahsettiğini "bu metni kim yazdı" karışıklığı bende çok olmadı açıkçası, bunun çok önemli bir soru olduğunu da düşünmüyorum. Ama kitap boyunca bu konuda ipuçları verildi de fark etmedim mi diye merak da ediyorum. Bir eleştirim kitabın ortalarında temponun biraz düşmesine olacak. Aynı şeyleri tekrar tekrar okuyormuşum hissi oldu biraz, uzun sürmedi gerçi fakat zaten kısa bir kitap Beyaz Kale, hiç olmaması daha iyiydi.
Pamuk yazarken çok fazla eserden, yazardan faydalanmış ve birçoğuna metinde atıfta bulunmuş. Bu metinlerarası öğeleri de çok sevdim ben. Edebiyatın gerçek dünyadan ayrı bir dünya olduğunu düşünüyorum, öyle olmasını istiyorum ve bu ayrı ama kendi içinde bütünlüklü bir dünya olma hissini güçlendiren her şeyi mutlulukla karşılıyorum. Yazarın gerekli yerlerde tarihi bükmesi de sevdiğim bir başka şey bu yüzden. Tarihi gerçeklere uyacağım diye kurgudan, hikayenin büyüsünden ödün veren yazarlar sıkıyor beni. Körburun mesela bu yüzden vasat bir romandı bana göre. Tarih hikayeden önce gelmez, en azından kurgu bir eserde gelmemeli. Orhan Pamuk bunu benden çok daha iyi biliyor tabi ki.
Ancak Beyaz Kale'de beni en çok etkileyen şey Orhan Pamuk'un hikayenin nasıl ortaya çıktığını, evrildiğini, yazarken hangi eserlerden yararlandığını, hikayede yaptığı bazı tercihleri ve düşüncelerini açıkladığı muazzam sonsözü oldu. Bu sonsöz de anlatının bir parçası, hatta en değerli parçası bence. Faruk Darvınoğlu'nun giriş yazısı, hikayenin kendisi ve Orhan Pamuk'un sonsözü hep beraber çok katmanlı, yazarın ve karakterlerin ve hatta tarihin birbirine girdiği bir roman oluşturuyor Beyaz Kale'de. Bazı yazarlar romanın ortasında okurla konuşarak yapıyor bunu, Pamuk ise daha farklı ama aynı derecede etkileyici bir yol izlemiş.
Sessiz Ev kadar büyülemese de yine şahane bir roman okuttu Orhan Pamuk bana. Sırada ise en çok merak ettiğim, en fazla konuşulan ve övülen eseri Kara Kitap var.
Merkezinde kimlik meselesi -ben neden benim?- olan hikayenin nereye gittiğini daha başlarda anlamak mümkün aslında, yavaş yavaş kaçınılmaz sona doğru ilerlediğinizi fark ediyorsunuz ama son öyle güzel yazılmış ki yine de etkiliyor sizi. Birçok eleştirinin yanı sıra kitabın sonsözünde yazarın da bahsettiğini "bu metni kim yazdı" karışıklığı bende çok olmadı açıkçası, bunun çok önemli bir soru olduğunu da düşünmüyorum. Ama kitap boyunca bu konuda ipuçları verildi de fark etmedim mi diye merak da ediyorum. Bir eleştirim kitabın ortalarında temponun biraz düşmesine olacak. Aynı şeyleri tekrar tekrar okuyormuşum hissi oldu biraz, uzun sürmedi gerçi fakat zaten kısa bir kitap Beyaz Kale, hiç olmaması daha iyiydi.
Pamuk yazarken çok fazla eserden, yazardan faydalanmış ve birçoğuna metinde atıfta bulunmuş. Bu metinlerarası öğeleri de çok sevdim ben. Edebiyatın gerçek dünyadan ayrı bir dünya olduğunu düşünüyorum, öyle olmasını istiyorum ve bu ayrı ama kendi içinde bütünlüklü bir dünya olma hissini güçlendiren her şeyi mutlulukla karşılıyorum. Yazarın gerekli yerlerde tarihi bükmesi de sevdiğim bir başka şey bu yüzden. Tarihi gerçeklere uyacağım diye kurgudan, hikayenin büyüsünden ödün veren yazarlar sıkıyor beni. Körburun mesela bu yüzden vasat bir romandı bana göre. Tarih hikayeden önce gelmez, en azından kurgu bir eserde gelmemeli. Orhan Pamuk bunu benden çok daha iyi biliyor tabi ki.
Ancak Beyaz Kale'de beni en çok etkileyen şey Orhan Pamuk'un hikayenin nasıl ortaya çıktığını, evrildiğini, yazarken hangi eserlerden yararlandığını, hikayede yaptığı bazı tercihleri ve düşüncelerini açıkladığı muazzam sonsözü oldu. Bu sonsöz de anlatının bir parçası, hatta en değerli parçası bence. Faruk Darvınoğlu'nun giriş yazısı, hikayenin kendisi ve Orhan Pamuk'un sonsözü hep beraber çok katmanlı, yazarın ve karakterlerin ve hatta tarihin birbirine girdiği bir roman oluşturuyor Beyaz Kale'de. Bazı yazarlar romanın ortasında okurla konuşarak yapıyor bunu, Pamuk ise daha farklı ama aynı derecede etkileyici bir yol izlemiş.
Sessiz Ev kadar büyülemese de yine şahane bir roman okuttu Orhan Pamuk bana. Sırada ise en çok merak ettiğim, en fazla konuşulan ve övülen eseri Kara Kitap var.
January 8, 2021
القلعة البيضاء
تأليف: أورهان باموق
ترجمة : عبدالقادر عبداللي
طباعة : دار المدى
عدد الصفحات : 154
نوعها : رواية
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ما قبل الحكاية :
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في عام ١٩٨٢ واثناء الصيف الذي اعتاد فيه بطلنا الذي يعمل مسؤولاً عن قسم التاريخ في الموسوعية قضاء اسبوعاً في منطقة جبزي (غبزة) واثناء تجوله في ارشيف قائقامية (وتعني مقاطعة ادارية) يعثر مصادفةً على صندوق يحتوي مخطوطة مغلفة في غلاف أزرق لافت للنظر ومكتوب عليها بخط طفولي " أبن المنجّد بالتبني " هذا العنوان الذي اثار فضول بطلنا فشرع في تصفحه فأعجبه محتواه لدرجة انه رغب في اخذه خلسةً ليعيد قراءته وكذلك كتابته!
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يجد بطلنا صعوبة في تحديد تاريخ الذي كُتب فيه الكتاب ويرى حدث تاريخي لم يصادف حدثاً آخر ذُكر وقتها!! او واسماء لوزراء بشكل مغلوط!! فيعقد العزم على ان يركز حول الحكاية ويتجاهل كل ما دون ذلك من دلالات علمية كانت او زمنية.
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ويبدأ البطل في إعادة تدوين ذلك الكتاب من اللغة التركية القديمة الى الحديثة فهل يبقي على كل الحكاية كما دُونت ام سيكون هناك تغيير؟!
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الحكاية :
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طبيب إيطالي شاب يُبحر على ظهر مركب تتم مهاجمته من قبل أتراك فيقع ذلك الشاب اسيراً تمكنه معرفته بالطب نوعاً خاصاً من المعاملة ولكنها لا تدوم طويلاً ثم يُعرض عليه ان يدخل الاسلام ليتم عتقه ولكنه يرفض ذلك فيعود للسجن مجدداً ثم يفرج عنه ليصبح عبداً لشخصية غريبة تُدعى الاستاذ!
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من هو الاستاذ وما وجه التشابه بينه وبين هذا الشاب؟! كيف ستكون علاقتهم ببعضهم البعض؟! وهل ستستمر في وتيرة واحدة؟! ما المهمة التي سيخوضون فيها سويةً وهل سينجحون فيها؟! وكيف سيفارق كل منهم الآخر؟!
كل ذلك ادعه لك لتتعرف عليه من خلال الرواية.
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التقييم:
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هل توافق على أن بعض الروايات القصيرة قد تكون شائكة أكثر بكثير من الروايات الدسمة؟!
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هذا ما حدث لي مع هذه الرواية ورغم محدودية قراءاتي حتى الآن للمؤلف فلا أُنكر بأنني أ��عجبت سابقاً بروايته #متحف_البراءة والتي كانت سبباً في شراء بقية مؤلفاته لقراءتها ولو بعد حين وها آنا الان مع ثاني رواية له رغم انها الاقدم والتي قيل عنها بانها كانت سبباً خلف شهرة المؤلف وتبؤءه مكانةً مرموقة بين الكتاب المعاصرين
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فهمت من خلال الرواية القيم التي يريد الكاتب تسليط الضوء عليها ولا انكر بان اقحام التاريخ والمقدمة للحكاية جيدة من ناحية الفكرة وقد تكون ابداعية في زمن صدورها وان استخدام لغة المتكلم هي الاكثر تناسباً مع سياق الكتاب الا انني ومع ذلك كله لم استمتع بها كثيراً.
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امنح الرواية 3 / 5 من أجل الفكرة الاساسية والمدخل للرواية السرد ��لذي اعتمد الكاتب جعله مربكاً جراء تحديث لغة الكتابة للتركية الحديثة.
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طبعاً لا تزال لدي نية قراءة كُتب اخرى للمؤلف ☺️ ماذا عنكم يا اصدقاء؟!
#القلعة_البيضاء #اورهان_باموق #دار_المدى #عبدالقادر_عبداللي #أدب_تركي #رواية #قراءات
المراجعة على الانستقرام 👇🏻
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJx8eROB4...
تأليف: أورهان باموق
ترجمة : عبدالقادر عبداللي
طباعة : دار المدى
عدد الصفحات : 154
نوعها : رواية
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ما قبل الحكاية :
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في عام ١٩٨٢ واثناء الصيف الذي اعتاد فيه بطلنا الذي يعمل مسؤولاً عن قسم التاريخ في الموسوعية قضاء اسبوعاً في منطقة جبزي (غبزة) واثناء تجوله في ارشيف قائقامية (وتعني مقاطعة ادارية) يعثر مصادفةً على صندوق يحتوي مخطوطة مغلفة في غلاف أزرق لافت للنظر ومكتوب عليها بخط طفولي " أبن المنجّد بالتبني " هذا العنوان الذي اثار فضول بطلنا فشرع في تصفحه فأعجبه محتواه لدرجة انه رغب في اخذه خلسةً ليعيد قراءته وكذلك كتابته!
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يجد بطلنا صعوبة في تحديد تاريخ الذي كُتب فيه الكتاب ويرى حدث تاريخي لم يصادف حدثاً آخر ذُكر وقتها!! او واسماء لوزراء بشكل مغلوط!! فيعقد العزم على ان يركز حول الحكاية ويتجاهل كل ما دون ذلك من دلالات علمية كانت او زمنية.
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ويبدأ البطل في إعادة تدوين ذلك الكتاب من اللغة التركية القديمة الى الحديثة فهل يبقي على كل الحكاية كما دُونت ام سيكون هناك تغيير؟!
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الحكاية :
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طبيب إيطالي شاب يُبحر على ظهر مركب تتم مهاجمته من قبل أتراك فيقع ذلك الشاب اسيراً تمكنه معرفته بالطب نوعاً خاصاً من المعاملة ولكنها لا تدوم طويلاً ثم يُعرض عليه ان يدخل الاسلام ليتم عتقه ولكنه يرفض ذلك فيعود للسجن مجدداً ثم يفرج عنه ليصبح عبداً لشخصية غريبة تُدعى الاستاذ!
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من هو الاستاذ وما وجه التشابه بينه وبين هذا الشاب؟! كيف ستكون علاقتهم ببعضهم البعض؟! وهل ستستمر في وتيرة واحدة؟! ما المهمة التي سيخوضون فيها سويةً وهل سينجحون فيها؟! وكيف سيفارق كل منهم الآخر؟!
كل ذلك ادعه لك لتتعرف عليه من خلال الرواية.
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التقييم:
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هل توافق على أن بعض الروايات القصيرة قد تكون شائكة أكثر بكثير من الروايات الدسمة؟!
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هذا ما حدث لي مع هذه الرواية ورغم محدودية قراءاتي حتى الآن للمؤلف فلا أُنكر بأنني أ��عجبت سابقاً بروايته #متحف_البراءة والتي كانت سبباً في شراء بقية مؤلفاته لقراءتها ولو بعد حين وها آنا الان مع ثاني رواية له رغم انها الاقدم والتي قيل عنها بانها كانت سبباً خلف شهرة المؤلف وتبؤءه مكانةً مرموقة بين الكتاب المعاصرين
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فهمت من خلال الرواية القيم التي يريد الكاتب تسليط الضوء عليها ولا انكر بان اقحام التاريخ والمقدمة للحكاية جيدة من ناحية الفكرة وقد تكون ابداعية في زمن صدورها وان استخدام لغة المتكلم هي الاكثر تناسباً مع سياق الكتاب الا انني ومع ذلك كله لم استمتع بها كثيراً.
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امنح الرواية 3 / 5 من أجل الفكرة الاساسية والمدخل للرواية السرد ��لذي اعتمد الكاتب جعله مربكاً جراء تحديث لغة الكتابة للتركية الحديثة.
.
.
طبعاً لا تزال لدي نية قراءة كُتب اخرى للمؤلف ☺️ ماذا عنكم يا اصدقاء؟!
#القلعة_البيضاء #اورهان_باموق #دار_المدى #عبدالقادر_عبداللي #أدب_تركي #رواية #قراءات
المراجعة على الانستقرام 👇🏻
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJx8eROB4...
January 1, 2017
It is almost impossible to talk about this book without revealing its ending (or at least what one might consider to be its ending). This strange work purports to be a 17th century manuscript found by one Faruk Darvinoglu in 1982. We find that in the manuscript we are about to read, '... some events described in the story bore little resemblance to fact', although the 'truth' of the general knowledge of the period seemed to be accurate (p.2). On page 3 Faruk reveals that a professor he had consulted tells him that 'in the old wooden houses on the back streets of Istanbul there were tens of thousands of manuscripts filled with stories of this kind'. Faruk tells us that the manuscript we are about to read is his own rendition into contemporary Turkish. He then writes: 'Readers seeing the dedication at the beginning may ask if it has a personal significance. I suppose that to see everything as connected with everything else is the addiction of our time. It is because I too have succumbed to this disease that I publish this tale.' The dedication he refers to is: 'For Nilgun Darvinoglu/ a loving sister/(1961—1980).' One presumes, therefore, that this dedication is by Faruk, not Pamuk (or is it?). In between this dedication and Faruk's Preface is a quotation allegedly from Marcel Proust (with no reference as to where in Proust's work this quotation is to be found) but with the qualification 'from the mistranslation of Y. K. Karaosmanoglu'. All this is in the beginning before the actual story itself... We are obviously in some murky territory here...
The manuscript itself is a rather straightforward telling of a strange tale, told by an unnamed Italian narrator about his capture by Turks, and his adventures in Istanbul where he becomes the servant of/collaborator with one Hoja (a name which apparently means 'master') who is a few years older than him, but who apparently looks exactly like the narrator. The first ten chapters details almost obsessively the relationship between the narrator and his 'double', a kind of love/hate relationship, where gradually the differences between the two men become indistinguishable, until, at the end of chapter ten, when the assault on the Polish Doppio Castle (the White Castle of the Title) fails, and Hoja dons the narrator's clothes and identity and disappears from the story. Hoja becomes the Italian; the Italian becomes Hoja. It is from these ten chapters that all the 'discussion' about self-identity, self/other distinctions, slave/master relationships, and even the relationship between East and West derive from: but I would suggest that these come more from the readers than from the novel itself. By the way, is it just a 'concidence', or merely an example of seeing everything connected to everything else, that the name of the White castle is 'Doppio' (the Italian word for 'double')?
It is really only in the final chapter (Chapter eleven) that one becomes embroiled in the complex literary trap that this novel really is, for it is here that the distinctions between the two men are, I believe, deliberately blurred, so that in the end one is no longer sure who is who. Stories of 'Hoja' as the Italian are referred to; narratives by the Italian, which point out his ignorance of Italian cities are cited; 'Hoja' is referred to as He and Him (with capital letters), and the sultan refers to Him as being the Italian captive while he is talking to the Italian (believing him to be Hoja) — or does he? The narrator, whoever he is, also seems to think his Childhood memories, exchanged with Hoja earlier, are indeed his own. There are numerous puzzling associations and confusions in this final chapter, and they all resonate with the general undermining of the narrative provided in the Preface by 'Faruk'.
A complex example is provided on page 141 of my Faber 2009 paperback edition: The Italian (?) narrator is wishing that he might once more dream of 'my childhood in Edirne' (which is supposed to be Hoja's childhood) '... of the first time I saw Him (Hoja(?)) unbearded at the pasha's door, of the chill down my spine.' Going back to the beginning of Chapter two, we are told that 'The resemblance between myself and the man [Hoja] who entered the [pasha's] room was incredible! It was *me* there...'; then later in the paragraph: 'Then I decided he didn't resemble me all that much, he had a beard;...' So there is no way, really, that we can even say that the overriding images of the similarity of the two men more or less insisted upon throughout nine chapters is anything more than a delusion of the narrator... or if not, is Hoja bearded or unbearded? Any attempt to unravel the unravellable is bound to frustration. There is no way anyone will be able to find out. The novel resolves itself into a trick which, because of its paradoxical nature, cannot be resolved: so many of the images of the novel remain in the mind, never finding any peaceful resolution. This also means that any arguments about self/other, slave/master and East/West are also not able to be resolved. Whether this is a good thing is not is problematical (precisely because of its internal paradoxes).
The final image of an old man, looking out through a window to his garden, remembering, is perhaps the best image to rest on at the end. It is a sad image, a suggestion that our memories are only what we make of them, of the narratives we tell ourselves — these are what ultimately provide us with meaning, regardless of whether they are true or not.
The manuscript itself is a rather straightforward telling of a strange tale, told by an unnamed Italian narrator about his capture by Turks, and his adventures in Istanbul where he becomes the servant of/collaborator with one Hoja (a name which apparently means 'master') who is a few years older than him, but who apparently looks exactly like the narrator. The first ten chapters details almost obsessively the relationship between the narrator and his 'double', a kind of love/hate relationship, where gradually the differences between the two men become indistinguishable, until, at the end of chapter ten, when the assault on the Polish Doppio Castle (the White Castle of the Title) fails, and Hoja dons the narrator's clothes and identity and disappears from the story. Hoja becomes the Italian; the Italian becomes Hoja. It is from these ten chapters that all the 'discussion' about self-identity, self/other distinctions, slave/master relationships, and even the relationship between East and West derive from: but I would suggest that these come more from the readers than from the novel itself. By the way, is it just a 'concidence', or merely an example of seeing everything connected to everything else, that the name of the White castle is 'Doppio' (the Italian word for 'double')?
It is really only in the final chapter (Chapter eleven) that one becomes embroiled in the complex literary trap that this novel really is, for it is here that the distinctions between the two men are, I believe, deliberately blurred, so that in the end one is no longer sure who is who. Stories of 'Hoja' as the Italian are referred to; narratives by the Italian, which point out his ignorance of Italian cities are cited; 'Hoja' is referred to as He and Him (with capital letters), and the sultan refers to Him as being the Italian captive while he is talking to the Italian (believing him to be Hoja) — or does he? The narrator, whoever he is, also seems to think his Childhood memories, exchanged with Hoja earlier, are indeed his own. There are numerous puzzling associations and confusions in this final chapter, and they all resonate with the general undermining of the narrative provided in the Preface by 'Faruk'.
A complex example is provided on page 141 of my Faber 2009 paperback edition: The Italian (?) narrator is wishing that he might once more dream of 'my childhood in Edirne' (which is supposed to be Hoja's childhood) '... of the first time I saw Him (Hoja(?)) unbearded at the pasha's door, of the chill down my spine.' Going back to the beginning of Chapter two, we are told that 'The resemblance between myself and the man [Hoja] who entered the [pasha's] room was incredible! It was *me* there...'; then later in the paragraph: 'Then I decided he didn't resemble me all that much, he had a beard;...' So there is no way, really, that we can even say that the overriding images of the similarity of the two men more or less insisted upon throughout nine chapters is anything more than a delusion of the narrator... or if not, is Hoja bearded or unbearded? Any attempt to unravel the unravellable is bound to frustration. There is no way anyone will be able to find out. The novel resolves itself into a trick which, because of its paradoxical nature, cannot be resolved: so many of the images of the novel remain in the mind, never finding any peaceful resolution. This also means that any arguments about self/other, slave/master and East/West are also not able to be resolved. Whether this is a good thing is not is problematical (precisely because of its internal paradoxes).
The final image of an old man, looking out through a window to his garden, remembering, is perhaps the best image to rest on at the end. It is a sad image, a suggestion that our memories are only what we make of them, of the narratives we tell ourselves — these are what ultimately provide us with meaning, regardless of whether they are true or not.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 14, 2013
" أليس الجانب الأمتع من الحياة هو تلفيق حكايات ممتعة ،، والاستماع إلى حكايات ممتعة " - في البدء شكرا لامتاعي ..
باموق في تجربتي الأولى معه
وحتماً لن تكون الأخيرة ...
سحرني ...أدهشني ..أحببت الصيغة التي كتب بها هذه الرواية ...
وقبل أن أبدأ في الثرثرة عن هذه الرواية فتحذيراً لمن لم يقرأ الرواية ربما سأتحمس وأكشف شيئا بدون قصد ..ولكن في كلا الأحوال ..باموق ساحر حتى وإن كنت تعرف مسبقاً تسلسل الرواية !!
أحببت أنه أختار شخصاًآخر ليكتب هذه الرواية .. وكأنه يتحدث معنا ككقراء ويتحاور معنا ..
وازداد الأمر تعقيداً لأكتشف أن الراوي ليس هو نفسه بل هو شخص آخر عاش معه أو ربما اختلط علي الأمر ...أو كما يقول: " الآن وأنا أكتب هذا الكتاب لا أقدم صورة الواقع ،، بل انعكاس خيالاتي فقط " ... وهو ما يزيد الأمر حيرة !
أحببت أنه مارس فكرة " يخلق من الشبه أربعين "
ليدفعني للتفكير ماذا لو سنحت لي الفرصة لمقابلة شخص ما يشبهني من الطرف الآخر للكرة الأرضية بغض النظر عن الظروف التي تم فيها اللقاء وبغض النظر عن الخلفية التي أتى منها
التقاء للشرق والغرب تحت سقف واحد ...
وفي خضم روايته عكس فترة من تاريخ تركيا بمهارة ..
حين بدأ روايته بذلك الايطالي المسيحي الذي وقع أسيراً في يد العثمانيين ..
حيث تلك الفترة كانو يعذبون المسيحين ويجبرونهم بالقوة ليتركو دينهم ويدخلو في الاسلام !!
ولم يكتفِ بهذا بل زاد الأمر سوءا حين تم استعباده من قبل " الأستاذ " - والذي سنعرف أنه يشبهه- بحجة أنه يريد التعلم منه ...
ومن هنا في نظري يبدأ محور الرواية في الحديث عن الذات والبحث والتفكر في النفس .. حيث يبدأ الأستاذ بالتعلم على يد الايطالي ومن ثم يتطور الأمر بالبحث عن ذاته في شبيهه الايطالي والعكس ..ويتطور الأمر بمطامح الأستاذ في الوصول إلى السلطان والذي عرفه منذ أن كان صغيرا " السلطان محمد الرابع " وجدته " السلطانة كوسم " ويعكس لنا بخفة التقاطات تاريخية عن تلك الفترة ..
باموق سيطر علي بطريقة تناوله الذات من عدة وجوه سأكون كاذبة إن قلت أني لم أخلط في بعض الفصول بين ذلك الايطالي وشبيهه الأستاذ أم يجدر بي أن أقول الأستاذ وشبيهه الايطالي ...
بعض الاقتباسات
" ليس ثمة حياة يخطط لها مسبقا ، وأن الحكايات كلها عبارة عن مجموعة من المصادفات المتسلسلة "
" أليس أفضل إثبات على أن الناس متشابهون هو استطاعتهم أخذ أمكنة بعضهم البعض ؟ "
" ما أهمية من يكون الإنسان ؟ المهم هو ما يفعله "
" هل نعرف أنفسنا ؟ على الإنسان أن يعرف نفسه جيدا ! "
" البحث في داخلنا والتفكير بأنفسنا بأكثر مما هي عليه لا يمنحنا سوى الحزن "
" زلة لسان تظهر تناظرية الحياة "
" يجب علينا أن نبحث في الغريب والمدهش كما في حكايتي ،، نعم لعل هذا هو الأمر الوحيد الذي يمكننا عمله لمواجهة ضيق العالم الذي يسئمنا "
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ولا عجب أن عبارة كهذه صدرت عن باموق :
" الأدب هو موهبة أن نحكي حكايتنا الخاصة كما لو كانت تخص آخرين، وأن نحكي حكايات الآخرين كما لو كانت حكايتنا الخاصة "
** المراجعة ليست بالشكل الذي أريده ولكني حاولت ...ربما سأضيف عليها في وقت ما أو سأعيد صياغة بعض المقاطع ..
** شكر خاص للمترجم عبدالقادر عبداللي ..
باموق في تجربتي الأولى معه
وحتماً لن تكون الأخيرة ...
سحرني ...أدهشني ..أحببت الصيغة التي كتب بها هذه الرواية ...
وقبل أن أبدأ في الثرثرة عن هذه الرواية فتحذيراً لمن لم يقرأ الرواية ربما سأتحمس وأكشف شيئا بدون قصد ..ولكن في كلا الأحوال ..باموق ساحر حتى وإن كنت تعرف مسبقاً تسلسل الرواية !!
أحببت أنه أختار شخصاًآخر ليكتب هذه الرواية .. وكأنه يتحدث معنا ككقراء ويتحاور معنا ..
وازداد الأمر تعقيداً لأكتشف أن الراوي ليس هو نفسه بل هو شخص آخر عاش معه أو ربما اختلط علي الأمر ...أو كما يقول: " الآن وأنا أكتب هذا الكتاب لا أقدم صورة الواقع ،، بل انعكاس خيالاتي فقط " ... وهو ما يزيد الأمر حيرة !
أحببت أنه مارس فكرة " يخلق من الشبه أربعين "
ليدفعني للتفكير ماذا لو سنحت لي الفرصة لمقابلة شخص ما يشبهني من الطرف الآخر للكرة الأرضية بغض النظر عن الظروف التي تم فيها اللقاء وبغض النظر عن الخلفية التي أتى منها
التقاء للشرق والغرب تحت سقف واحد ...
وفي خضم روايته عكس فترة من تاريخ تركيا بمهارة ..
حين بدأ روايته بذلك الايطالي المسيحي الذي وقع أسيراً في يد العثمانيين ..
حيث تلك الفترة كانو يعذبون المسيحين ويجبرونهم بالقوة ليتركو دينهم ويدخلو في الاسلام !!
ولم يكتفِ بهذا بل زاد الأمر سوءا حين تم استعباده من قبل " الأستاذ " - والذي سنعرف أنه يشبهه- بحجة أنه يريد التعلم منه ...
ومن هنا في نظري يبدأ محور الرواية في الحديث عن الذات والبحث والتفكر في النفس .. حيث يبدأ الأستاذ بالتعلم على يد الايطالي ومن ثم يتطور الأمر بالبحث عن ذاته في شبيهه الايطالي والعكس ..ويتطور الأمر بمطامح الأستاذ في الوصول إلى السلطان والذي عرفه منذ أن كان صغيرا " السلطان محمد الرابع " وجدته " السلطانة كوسم " ويعكس لنا بخفة التقاطات تاريخية عن تلك الفترة ..
باموق سيطر علي بطريقة تناوله الذات من عدة وجوه سأكون كاذبة إن قلت أني لم أخلط في بعض الفصول بين ذلك الايطالي وشبيهه الأستاذ أم يجدر بي أن أقول الأستاذ وشبيهه الايطالي ...
بعض الاقتباسات
" ليس ثمة حياة يخطط لها مسبقا ، وأن الحكايات كلها عبارة عن مجموعة من المصادفات المتسلسلة "
" أليس أفضل إثبات على أن الناس متشابهون هو استطاعتهم أخذ أمكنة بعضهم البعض ؟ "
" ما أهمية من يكون الإنسان ؟ المهم هو ما يفعله "
" هل نعرف أنفسنا ؟ على الإنسان أن يعرف نفسه جيدا ! "
" البحث في داخلنا والتفكير بأنفسنا بأكثر مما هي عليه لا يمنحنا سوى الحزن "
" زلة لسان تظهر تناظرية الحياة "
" يجب علينا أن نبحث في الغريب والمدهش كما في حكايتي ،، نعم لعل هذا هو الأمر الوحيد الذي يمكننا عمله لمواجهة ضيق العالم الذي يسئمنا "
_______
ولا عجب أن عبارة كهذه صدرت عن باموق :
" الأدب هو موهبة أن نحكي حكايتنا الخاصة كما لو كانت تخص آخرين، وأن نحكي حكايات الآخرين كما لو كانت حكايتنا الخاصة "
** المراجعة ليست بالشكل الذي أريده ولكني حاولت ...ربما سأضيف عليها في وقت ما أو سأعيد صياغة بعض المقاطع ..
** شكر خاص للمترجم عبدالقادر عبداللي ..
July 27, 2017
Well, this was unexpected. And, to be honest, I had no valid argument to expect what I expected, but still… Somehow I thought this would be a plot-based story or a novella focusing on a particular, specific event. Maybe the beginning just slightly reminded me of “Devil’s Yard” (I. Andrić).
In the 17th century, after a pirate raid, a young Venetian intellectual is brought to Istanbul as a prisoner and begins living in a Hoca’s home shortly after that. The nature of his captivity though is not to be a servant or slave, but a scientific and scholarly exchange between the Hoca and the foreigner from the West. Apart from two or three breakpoints, that is about as much as there is to palpable events. Still, the novel is very dense and rich in substance, even to a point that it reads somewhat dragging and slowly, demanding high focus and attention.
Believing himself surrounded by ignorants and idiots, the Hoca wants to learn about Western discoveries and achievement. He is vain and ill-tempered. The Venetian, the narrator of this story, is arrogant, holier-than-thou, pretentious. And that is quite a coup. Both of the protagonists are highly irritating and unlikable, thus preventing an emotional connection, an alliance between reader and character. The emphasis is on their interaction, their differences and the distance between them, their link as Doppelgänger and their pouring into each other. The motif of the identical twin represents their relation quite poignantly: How valuable and how safe is one’s own identity? What is identity at all? What makes you who you are and what would make you give that up? How is it possible you steadily flow into someone else? And when you realise a change occurring in you, do you hang on to what was previously there or do you let yourself glide with the new condition, trade places, become your own alter ego? And what if you can no longer tell yourself and your twin apart, but someone else still can? And maybe the most essential dilemma in this novel: For how long will you be able to distinguish with certainty that your own self is still yours and what your self was to begin with?
This is not the first time that Pamuk tackles the question of identity. The matter of originality and canon in art in “My Name is Red” eventually comes down to identity as well. And the relation between East and West, Orient and Occident, is not a novelty either. But this time there is barely a broader context, the social, political, historical basis is merely a setting. If I was to visualise “The White Castle”, I could easily reduce it to a single scene of two people sitting in a dark, candle-lit room with the door and window-shutters closed. This definition, loss, trade and gain of identity is about as personal as it gets. And, interestingly enough, equally unemotional and detached.
In the 17th century, after a pirate raid, a young Venetian intellectual is brought to Istanbul as a prisoner and begins living in a Hoca’s home shortly after that. The nature of his captivity though is not to be a servant or slave, but a scientific and scholarly exchange between the Hoca and the foreigner from the West. Apart from two or three breakpoints, that is about as much as there is to palpable events. Still, the novel is very dense and rich in substance, even to a point that it reads somewhat dragging and slowly, demanding high focus and attention.
Believing himself surrounded by ignorants and idiots, the Hoca wants to learn about Western discoveries and achievement. He is vain and ill-tempered. The Venetian, the narrator of this story, is arrogant, holier-than-thou, pretentious. And that is quite a coup. Both of the protagonists are highly irritating and unlikable, thus preventing an emotional connection, an alliance between reader and character. The emphasis is on their interaction, their differences and the distance between them, their link as Doppelgänger and their pouring into each other. The motif of the identical twin represents their relation quite poignantly: How valuable and how safe is one’s own identity? What is identity at all? What makes you who you are and what would make you give that up? How is it possible you steadily flow into someone else? And when you realise a change occurring in you, do you hang on to what was previously there or do you let yourself glide with the new condition, trade places, become your own alter ego? And what if you can no longer tell yourself and your twin apart, but someone else still can? And maybe the most essential dilemma in this novel: For how long will you be able to distinguish with certainty that your own self is still yours and what your self was to begin with?
This is not the first time that Pamuk tackles the question of identity. The matter of originality and canon in art in “My Name is Red” eventually comes down to identity as well. And the relation between East and West, Orient and Occident, is not a novelty either. But this time there is barely a broader context, the social, political, historical basis is merely a setting. If I was to visualise “The White Castle”, I could easily reduce it to a single scene of two people sitting in a dark, candle-lit room with the door and window-shutters closed. This definition, loss, trade and gain of identity is about as personal as it gets. And, interestingly enough, equally unemotional and detached.
March 20, 2019
Orhan Pamuk’un eserlerini kronolojik okumaya devam ediyoruz. Mart ayı 3.kitap olan Beyaz Kale idi. Diğer ikisinden farklı olarak ‘nuvel’ türünde yazılmış. Kısa roman diyebiliriz.
Bir önceki Sessiz Ev eserindeki Faruk karakterinin arşivde bu hikayeyi bulması ile, diğer eserine de bağlantı kurulmuş.
17.yüzyılda geçen hikayede, Hoca ve Venedikli köle karakterleri ile kişinin kimlik arayışı, değişim ve dönüşüm, Doğu-Batı anlayışı üzerine çok keyifle okuduğum bir eser oldu. Tarih altyapısıyla, kurgu içinde birçok bilindik karaktere de atıf yapılması ile keyiflendim.
Bir sonraki ay kitabımız Kara Kitap. #heraybirorhanpamuk grubumuza katılmak için kitabı okumaya başladığınızda mesaj atabilirsiniz.
Bir önceki Sessiz Ev eserindeki Faruk karakterinin arşivde bu hikayeyi bulması ile, diğer eserine de bağlantı kurulmuş.
17.yüzyılda geçen hikayede, Hoca ve Venedikli köle karakterleri ile kişinin kimlik arayışı, değişim ve dönüşüm, Doğu-Batı anlayışı üzerine çok keyifle okuduğum bir eser oldu. Tarih altyapısıyla, kurgu içinde birçok bilindik karaktere de atıf yapılması ile keyiflendim.
Bir sonraki ay kitabımız Kara Kitap. #heraybirorhanpamuk grubumuza katılmak için kitabı okumaya başladığınızda mesaj atabilirsiniz.
October 30, 2023
"The White Castle" was inspired by The Double – Dostoevsky. Pamuk's ability to infuse the narrative with Dostoevskian qualities is nothing short of brilliant. The intricate exploration of identity, the interplay of self and other, and the philosophical depth of the characters make this novel a captivating journey into the human psyche. Pamuk's storytelling is rich in psychological complexity, delving into the darkest corners of the human soul.
Its intricate relationships and the blurred lines between the self and the other, reminiscent of Dostoevsky's exploration of the human condition is exceptional. Pamuk's prose is both evocative and thought-provoking, and he weaves a narrative that keeps the reader engaged from the first page to the last. The novel's brilliance lies in its ability to make you question the nature of identity and the intricacies of power and submission. It's a must-read for anyone who appreciates the profound depth and complexity of Dostoevsky's works, as Pamuk skillfully carries forward this tradition with an expert hand.
This is my third book of Pamuk and I have loved all three of them, can’t wait to read more. He is an exceptional writer!
“But we should search for the strange and surprising in the world, not within ourselves! To search within, to think so long and hard about our own selves, would only make us unhappy. This is what had happened to the characters in my story: for this reason heroes could never tolerate being themselves, for this reason they always wanted to be someone else.”
Its intricate relationships and the blurred lines between the self and the other, reminiscent of Dostoevsky's exploration of the human condition is exceptional. Pamuk's prose is both evocative and thought-provoking, and he weaves a narrative that keeps the reader engaged from the first page to the last. The novel's brilliance lies in its ability to make you question the nature of identity and the intricacies of power and submission. It's a must-read for anyone who appreciates the profound depth and complexity of Dostoevsky's works, as Pamuk skillfully carries forward this tradition with an expert hand.
This is my third book of Pamuk and I have loved all three of them, can’t wait to read more. He is an exceptional writer!
“But we should search for the strange and surprising in the world, not within ourselves! To search within, to think so long and hard about our own selves, would only make us unhappy. This is what had happened to the characters in my story: for this reason heroes could never tolerate being themselves, for this reason they always wanted to be someone else.”
September 4, 2017
"The White Castle is a colorful and intricately patterned triumph of the imagination." - said the annotation. But I don't see The White Castle as a triumph. It's good but nothing more.
Pamuk tells us a story about a slave who inspite all diffuculties and troubles took his place in the turkish society of masters and a master who seemed to be insane and genious at the same time. They are similar like brothers and their mind had become similar, too. Knowledge of the Slave became a part of Hoja. Hoja's enthusiasm became a part of the Slave. Not only readers but also they could hardly say where he ended and where started another one.
The main idea is that human heart has no limits. People can sacrifice themselves to save another human being. The fact that Hoja and the narrator exchanged their lives proves that.
Pamuk tells us a story about a slave who inspite all diffuculties and troubles took his place in the turkish society of masters and a master who seemed to be insane and genious at the same time. They are similar like brothers and their mind had become similar, too. Knowledge of the Slave became a part of Hoja. Hoja's enthusiasm became a part of the Slave. Not only readers but also they could hardly say where he ended and where started another one.
The main idea is that human heart has no limits. People can sacrifice themselves to save another human being. The fact that Hoja and the narrator exchanged their lives proves that.
May 18, 2010
Pamuk’s talent for storytelling is definitely unquestionable. Well, OK, you can disagree, I don’t care.
I loved the setting; it was basically the main criteria for choosing the book (I’d probably need to mention the reader-friendly length, as well). I loved the plot (the double / the identical twin, the capacity of exchanging not only identities, but also memories, ideas and beliefs), the framing device, the (unreliable) 1st person narrative, the mind games and the twisted relationship / brutal conflict / love between Hoja and the slave and the cultural confrontation (West VS East).
I definitely loved Luminita Munteanu’s translation. She’s the exclusive translator of Pamuk’s books in Romanian and she’s done an incredibly good job, not only translating, but also offering a huge deal of Ottoman background – for My Name Is Red, at least – and explanatory footnotes. It rarely happens that I really appreciate translations, but when I read a book that sounds so naturally Romanian to me, it’s a good translation, don’t you think? Well, all those words of Turkish origin that we have in Romanian helped a lot, as well. Actually, thank goodness for all the influences Romanian has got over the years – I would never, NEVER read a Russian (or other Slavic language), Hungarian or Turkish book in English if the Romanian version was available. OK, I’m getting weird, let’s move on.
So, apparently, I liked the book; a comparison to My Name Is Red seems inevitable, hence the 3*. I’m not sure if it was the slow pace or something else, but somewhere after the middle I felt Pamuk lost me, the book was getting nowhere and I was tempted to abandon it. The reader is actually advised to do so, but I think it’s just a trick Pamuk uses in order to keep his reader curious, only to leave him with a dilemma at the end. Hmm.
So in order to feed my recent interest in Turkish culture, I think my next Pamuk will be something quite different. Something that focuses on modern Turkey / the conflict between traditional and modern, old VS new etc. And I need some films, as well; I feel Fatih Akin’s are not enough.
I loved the setting; it was basically the main criteria for choosing the book (I’d probably need to mention the reader-friendly length, as well). I loved the plot (the double / the identical twin, the capacity of exchanging not only identities, but also memories, ideas and beliefs), the framing device, the (unreliable) 1st person narrative, the mind games and the twisted relationship / brutal conflict / love between Hoja and the slave and the cultural confrontation (West VS East).
I definitely loved Luminita Munteanu’s translation. She’s the exclusive translator of Pamuk’s books in Romanian and she’s done an incredibly good job, not only translating, but also offering a huge deal of Ottoman background – for My Name Is Red, at least – and explanatory footnotes. It rarely happens that I really appreciate translations, but when I read a book that sounds so naturally Romanian to me, it’s a good translation, don’t you think? Well, all those words of Turkish origin that we have in Romanian helped a lot, as well. Actually, thank goodness for all the influences Romanian has got over the years – I would never, NEVER read a Russian (or other Slavic language), Hungarian or Turkish book in English if the Romanian version was available. OK, I’m getting weird, let’s move on.
So, apparently, I liked the book; a comparison to My Name Is Red seems inevitable, hence the 3*. I’m not sure if it was the slow pace or something else, but somewhere after the middle I felt Pamuk lost me, the book was getting nowhere and I was tempted to abandon it. The reader is actually advised to do so, but I think it’s just a trick Pamuk uses in order to keep his reader curious, only to leave him with a dilemma at the end. Hmm.
So in order to feed my recent interest in Turkish culture, I think my next Pamuk will be something quite different. Something that focuses on modern Turkey / the conflict between traditional and modern, old VS new etc. And I need some films, as well; I feel Fatih Akin’s are not enough.
August 28, 2024
i didn't like it, but may be because i expected a lot from it as a historical novel...
it was boring for me, i leave it several times,but finally i finished it...
it was boring for me, i leave it several times,but finally i finished it...
April 13, 2023
شروع خیلی خوبی داشت، اما بعد از صفحهی پنجاه واقعا خسته کننده میشد. داستان نه میتونست شخصیتها رو خوب نشون بده، نه حتی زندگی توی امپراتوری عثمانی رو به تصویر میکشید، صرفا شبیه یک داستان Bromance مسخره بود. اصلا ارزش خوندن نداره.
May 6, 2024
El supuesto autor es un historiador de este libro, Faruk, es un historiador que hurga viejos archivos llamado , y el libro está dedicado a “Nilgün, buena persona y buena hermana”. Faruk y Ninlgün son personajes de la novela previa de Pamuk, La casa del silencio. En los escritos que describe, se narra la historia de un joven veneciano educado, que es esclavizado por los turcos, y cedido al Maestro, muy parecido a él; juntos recorren una relación en busca del conocimiento, matizado por conflictos personales y culturales, y afectos, con una dialéctica amo - esclavo, en el que al pensamiento musulmán se le insinúa la autoconciencia europea, en una búsqueda simbolizada por la imposibilidad de alcanzar el castillo blanco. ¿Vivir como búsqueda o como cotidianeidad y acción? Una obra ágil e interesante, aunque sin alcanzar el nivel de “drama de personajes” de La casa del silencio. Insinúa un libro relacionado: “Cevdet bey y sus hijos” (libro que ya fuera escrito por Pamuk anteriormente).
November 24, 2019
لذت چندانی نبردم ازش ولی بنظرم از «نام من سرخ» بهتر بود چون برخلاف اون یکی تونستم اینو به اخر برسونم(حجم کمتر کتاب و هم.نین کمتر بودن توصیفات بسخود خیلی به این قضیه کمک کرد)...کمی گیجم کرد و در واقع میخواستم که ازش مفهومی بگیرم و گاها به دریافت این مفهوم نزدیک میشدم ولی احساس میکردم این مفهوم زاییده ی ذهن خودمه و اصلا هدف نویسنده نیست و در نتیجه یجورایی از درک هدف نویسنده عاجز موندم...برای اولین بار کتابی بود که هیچ غلط املایی و ترجمه ای و تایپی نداشت!
در هر حال نتونستم به هیچ کدوم از کاراکترا نزدیک بشم و بفهممشون...
در هر حال نتونستم به هیچ کدوم از کاراکترا نزدیک بشم و بفهممشون...
January 22, 2024
https://yukioblogg.blogspot.com/2019/...
Сваки велики писац поседује једну овакву скривену књигу, наизглед експеримент, одбачено дете, сироче, ружно паче, које током година израста у прелепог лабуда и представља књижевни бисер као пример лепе уметности и лепе књижевности.
У народу постоји мишљење да брачни другови након одређеног времена почињу да личе. Размишљањем, поступцима, ставовима... изгледом. Асимилација је нормална и природна одредница за све живе створове, па и за неп��ијатеље. Не усвајају само поробљени народи особине робовласника и освајача, већ и освајачи преузимају особине угњетаваних и поробљених народа. Заплет ове књиге заправо и није битан, радња је споредна у целом току приче, једино што је важно извучено као поука неке басне, јесте идентитет две наоко различите особе које временом у преплитању мржње, сажаљења, патње и радости постају једно и исто до те мере да их више није могуће разликовати.
Ко је ко? Да ли је хоџа роб или је италијански роб хоџа? Млади млетачки интелектуалац доведен је у својству затвореника у султанов Цариград, негде у 17. веку. Убрзо бива поверен хоџи са којим ради и живи, али не у својству роба, бар не у својству роба како ми то замишљамо, већ у својству научног сарадника, подучаваоца, медијум у процесу размене знања између исток- запад. Хоџа жели од свог младог роба да учи о напретку науке западне културе, жели да учи о астрономији, физици и сликарству. Поглед на Златни рог, тамна собица и дуги разговори са тежњом да један другога разумеју, да један другоме пренесу поруку, роб господару форми знања и западне културе, господар робу у форми орјенталне културе и понашања. У покушајима да очара султана и пашу ради друштвене улоге, хоџа је често арогантан, агресиван, иритантан, али и мудар у моментима када се у процесу питичких промена треба показати код новог великаша. Интеракција, разлике и удаљеност која се временом смањује доводе до постепеног асимилације, уплива једног у другог, до тренутка када постају идентични близанци, који исто знају, који су разменили знања различитих култура, различитих научних достигнућа различитих цивилизација. Колико је ваше Ја уствари баш потпуно ваше и да ли у вашем Ја има по нешто од нечијег другог Ја, асимиловано временом и под утицајем бројних туђих знања и ставова? Промене исказане у нама под утицајем нових сазнања, околине, животних ситуација, формирају свачије Ја, тако да оно што називамо нашим идентитетом представља скуп прикупљених вредности и мана са разних извора, изабраних, прихваћених, свесно или несвесно, и одбачених услед непотребности или незадовољства истих. Морални и друштвени ставови једног друштва не могу се сматрати као властити идентитет, али и даље опстају као део индивидуе и граде једну личност, која ће се на тај бар за трен приближити неком другом човеку, попут робота на покретној траци, који је произведен под одређеном спецификацијом, копиран и исти. Временом дан и ноћ ће се спојити, сенке ће постати исте, до неразликовања, до немогућности тврдње то је моје!
Колико сте сигурни да је ваше сопствено Ја и даље ваше?
„У почетку ми је говорио како не смем да се стидим зато што је Он утицао на мене и што сам од Њега учио. Од почетка је знао да је Он написао све оне књиге, календаре и пророчанства која сам му током година даривао; и Њему је то казао док сам се ја ономад код куће бактао са нацртом оног нашег ору��ја које је остало заглибљено у блату; а знао је и да ми је Он ово испричао баш као што сам и ја Њему све говорио. (...) Само да ме је султан тих првих година отворено питао, верујем да бих му све испричао. У то време још увек и није било шушкања о томе да ја нисам ја, желео сам да разговарам о свему што се догодило, недостајао ми је Он.“
Сваки велики писац поседује једну овакву скривену књигу, наизглед експеримент, одбачено дете, сироче, ружно паче, које током година израста у прелепог лабуда и представља књижевни бисер као пример лепе уметности и лепе књижевности.
У народу постоји мишљење да брачни другови након одређеног времена почињу да личе. Размишљањем, поступцима, ставовима... изгледом. Асимилација је нормална и природна одредница за све живе створове, па и за неп��ијатеље. Не усвајају само поробљени народи особине робовласника и освајача, већ и освајачи преузимају особине угњетаваних и поробљених народа. Заплет ове књиге заправо и није битан, радња је споредна у целом току приче, једино што је важно извучено као поука неке басне, јесте идентитет две наоко различите особе које временом у преплитању мржње, сажаљења, патње и радости постају једно и исто до те мере да их више није могуће разликовати.
Ко је ко? Да ли је хоџа роб или је италијански роб хоџа? Млади млетачки интелектуалац доведен је у својству затвореника у султанов Цариград, негде у 17. веку. Убрзо бива поверен хоџи са којим ради и живи, али не у својству роба, бар не у својству роба како ми то замишљамо, већ у својству научног сарадника, подучаваоца, медијум у процесу размене знања између исток- запад. Хоџа жели од свог младог роба да учи о напретку науке западне културе, жели да учи о астрономији, физици и сликарству. Поглед на Златни рог, тамна собица и дуги разговори са тежњом да један другога разумеју, да један другоме пренесу поруку, роб господару форми знања и западне културе, господар робу у форми орјенталне културе и понашања. У покушајима да очара султана и пашу ради друштвене улоге, хоџа је често арогантан, агресиван, иритантан, али и мудар у моментима када се у процесу питичких промена треба показати код новог великаша. Интеракција, разлике и удаљеност која се временом смањује доводе до постепеног асимилације, уплива једног у другог, до тренутка када постају идентични близанци, који исто знају, који су разменили знања различитих култура, различитих научних достигнућа различитих цивилизација. Колико је ваше Ја уствари баш потпуно ваше и да ли у вашем Ја има по нешто од нечијег другог Ја, асимиловано временом и под утицајем бројних туђих знања и ставова? Промене исказане у нама под утицајем нових сазнања, околине, животних ситуација, формирају свачије Ја, тако да оно што називамо нашим идентитетом представља скуп прикупљених вредности и мана са разних извора, изабраних, прихваћених, свесно или несвесно, и одбачених услед непотребности или незадовољства истих. Морални и друштвени ставови једног друштва не могу се сматрати као властити идентитет, али и даље опстају као део индивидуе и граде једну личност, која ће се на тај бар за трен приближити неком другом човеку, попут робота на покретној траци, који је произведен под одређеном спецификацијом, копиран и исти. Временом дан и ноћ ће се спојити, сенке ће постати исте, до неразликовања, до немогућности тврдње то је моје!
Колико сте сигурни да је ваше сопствено Ја и даље ваше?
„У почетку ми је говорио како не смем да се стидим зато што је Он утицао на мене и што сам од Њега учио. Од почетка је знао да је Он написао све оне књиге, календаре и пророчанства која сам му током година даривао; и Њему је то казао док сам се ја ономад код куће бактао са нацртом оног нашег ору��ја које је остало заглибљено у блату; а знао је и да ми је Он ово испричао баш као што сам и ја Њему све говорио. (...) Само да ме је султан тих првих година отворено питао, верујем да бих му све испричао. У то време још увек и није било шушкања о томе да ја нисам ја, желео сам да разговарам о свему што се догодило, недостајао ми је Он.“
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