The Beauty of Landscape Resides in Its Melancholy

Author(s): Orhan Pamuk

Source: World Literature Today , Nov. - Dec., 2006, Vol. 80, No. 6 (Nov. - Dec., 2006), pp.
42-43
Published by: Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40159244

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 The
The beauty
beautyof
oflandscape
landscape
resides
resides

contagious
contagiousamong
amongthe
thecitizens
citizens
of of
Istanbul
Istanbul
is the
is the
city's
city's the ideal is socially constructed as "unreachable" in
urban
urban landscape
landscapeitself,
itself,which
whichbrings
brings
to mind
to mind
the the
illustri-
illustri- the dominant cultural politics? Namely, what happens
ous
ous days
days that
thatare
arenow
nowlost
lost
to to
thethe
city.
city.
TheThe
urban
urban
land-
land- when the ideal is constructed through the hierarchy
scape
scape and
andthe
thememory
memoryofof
the
the
lost
lost
civilization
civilization
imprinted
imprinted set between the "West" and the "East"? How does this

on
on the
the city's
city'sruins
ruinsbecome
becomethe
the
illustration
illustration
of the
of the
mel-mel- reflect on the psyche of the "non- Western" whose ideal
ancholic
ancholic mood
moodofofindividuals.
individuals.
That
That
is why
is why
thisthis
hu'zun
hu'zun is perceived to be something belonging to the "West"
inscribed
inscribeddeeply
deeplyininthe
theBosphorus
Bosphorus
andand
ruined
ruined
buildings
buildings while she is excluded from the "West" in the first place?
of
of Istanbul
Istanbulisisa acollective
collectivemelancholy,
melancholy,oneone
thatthat
unifies
unifies
its its What exactly is this "feeling of being peripheral"?
residents. In Pamuk's own words, 'To feel this huziln Eurocentrism exacerbated the distance between

is to be able to see the moments and places in which the Istanbulite and his ideal. As Edward Said put it,
this feeling and the context that arouses this feeling mix "psychologically, Orientalism is a form of paranoia" that
together." What Istanbul illustrates vividly is, indeed, an dreads the invasion of "our" ("Western") boundaries by
endless and inspiring list of these places and moments "them" ("Orientals").9 When Orientalism travels outside
where the melancholic subject and melancholic object the "West," I suggest that the paranoia of the subject of
are woven together. Orientalism constructs the melancholy of the object of
From the bringing together of these two meanings Orientalism. As long as we are speaking about a col-
of melancholy, perhaps even a third one emerges, a tacit lective melancholy, the cause of this melancholy is no
one, one that needs to be excavated by the "analyst" per- longer the loss of something previously possessed but
haps, but one that could single-handedly define Pamuk's rather exclusion from or the lack of an ideal.

depiction of the Turkish psyche, not only in Istanbul but As long as the historical process of modernization
in his oeuvre as a whole. Pamuk often depicts living in is defined as a "Western" ideal - namely, as a process
Turkey in terms of the "feeling of being peripheral," as a whose torch is carried by the "West" - this inscribed
feeling that swings between a "dignified pride" and an ideal becomes an unattainable lost ideal for the subject
"inferiority complex." who is categorized as the "non-Western" in the first
This perspective can, indeed, also be defined as a place. In a world where the "West" is perceived as the
melancholy that arises as a consequence of the asym- maker of universal history and the "East" as its inferior
metric relations operating during the moment of mod- follower, the others who are excluded from this defini-
ernization and Westernization of Turkey. Ideologies of tion of "universality" live through a loss or lack of a
Eurocentrism imported to Turkey during the process of natural right. This is the natural right of being part of
modernization caused the idea of the "Western" (which making history.10
itself varies and should not be standardized) to be per- What is the continuing relevance of the melancholy
ceived as the "ideal" norm for humanity, its cultural Pamuk depicts in Istanbul? Today, Istanbul is a lively
productions as the inescapable "universal" expression. and modern city that serves as a global capital. Entertain-
In Freudian theory, the lost object causing melancholy ment scenes, shopping malls, construction sites, business
does need not be a person or a thing - it may also be an districts with high-tech skyscrapers, and luxurious five-
ideal. The feeling of unworthiness and being peripheral, star hotels adorn the city, in addition to the common
the pendulum swings between pride and inferiority, symbols of Istanbul's historical peninsula and the Bos-
and the fluctuations between love and hate toward the phorus. Many visual and verbal representations today
lost object are nothing but the melancholic subject's
portray Istanbul as a complex and colorful global city
perceived distance from the ideal. What happens when
with a cosmopolitan population, hybrid roots, corrupt

42 I World Literature Today

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 SPECIAL SECTION

in its melancholy. - Orhan Pamuk

and ruthless businesses, and somewhat self-confident

choly such as bad judgment, fear without cause, quick
anger, delight in solitude, and anxiety. He also improved
and experienced people. Istanbul is no longer a black-
the Aristotelian specifications of the relationship between
and-white city, as it appeared to Pamuk as a child, but
melancholy and disorder in the black bile. See al-Kindi,
a multicolored booming metropolis, developing and Formulary, or Aqrabadhin, tr. Martin Levey (Madi-
Medical
expanding, generic and flashy, hybrid and nerve-rack-son: University of Wisconsin Press, 1966); and Ibn Slna,
ing, speedy and enthusiastic, spontaneous and dynamic.
Treatise on the Canon of Medicine, tr. O. Cameron Gruner
The accomplishment of Pamuk's Istanbul, in contrast, (London: Luzac, 1930). The English translation of the
section on melancholy appeared as "On the Signs of
resides in its ability to speak to the readers who can still
Melancholy's Appearance" (77-78).
look through this booming global city and see its melan-
4 Marcillo Ficino, Three Books of Life, tr. Carol Kaske & John
choly in the background. The global city is global only
Clark (1482; reprint, Binghamton: Center of Medieval and
when one fails to see its hidden lingering melancholy.
Renaissance Studies, 1991).
Ever since Aristotle associated melancholy with 5 Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy , 3 vols., ed. Thomas
"bril-
C. Faulkner, Nicolas K. Kiessling, and Rhonda L. Blair
liance" and "thoughtful being," this meaning has rarely
(1621; reprint, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), 1:170.
been lacking from connotations of the term, although
6 Abdiilhak §inasi [Hisar], "Madalyonlar II," Varhk, 1 June
it usually remained in the background." Melancholy 1934,is
344-45-
characterized as a sadness that, nevertheless, has charm,
7 Abdiilhak §inasi [Hisar], "Yikilan Yah," 245.
8 Abdiilhak §inasi [Hisar], Bogazigi Mehtaplan (1943; reprint,
a desirable tune. This appealing sorrow is also the retreat
of the individual who wants to be disassociated from Istanbul: Baglam, 1997).
9 Edward Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage, 1978), 72.
the dominant process of history, where "there is no
10 For more on this topic, see Esra Akcan, "Modernity in
document of civilization which is not at the same time a
Translation: Early Twentieth Century German-Turkish
document of barbarism."2 For Pamuk, this characterizes Exchanges in Land Settlement and Residential Culture,"
the remaining Sufi influence in the modern word hiizun Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 2005.
as well: "Imbued still with the honor accorded to it in 11 Aristotle, "Problems Connected with Thought, Intelli-
gence, and Wisdom."
Sufi literature, hiizun gives the resignation of [Istanbul's
12 Walter Benjamin, "Theses on the Philosophy of History,"
residents] an air of dignity, but it also explains their
in Illuminations, ed. Hannah Arendt, tr. Harry Zohn (New
choice to embrace failure, indecision, defeat, and poverty
York: Schocken, 1968), 256.
so philosophically and with such pride."
Esra Akcan lives in New York, where she works as a post-
Columbia University
doctoral core lecturer at Columbia University and teaches
1 Orhan Pamuk, Istanbul: Hatiralar ve §ehir (Istanbul: Yapi
graduate seminars at the New School's Parsons School
of Design. She received her undergraduate and graduate
Kredi Yayinlan, 2003); Eng. Istanbul: Memories and the City,
tr. Maureen Freely (New York: Knopf, 2006). Throughout degrees in architecture from Middle East Technical Univer-
the text, I followed Maureen Freely's translation, exceptsity
in and master's of philosophy and doctoral degrees from
a few cases where the translation was transformed based Columbia University. The recipient of numerous awards
on the argument. and fellowships, Akcan has published articles in books and
2 Aristotle, "Problems Connected with Thought, Intelli- various journals, including the Journal of Architecture, Archi-
gence, and Wisdom," in Problems II, tr. W. S. Hett (Cam- tectural Design (Great Britain), Architectural Theory Review
bridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1957), book 30. (Australia), g/11, New York-Istanbul, Mimarlik, Toplum Bilim,
3 When the Persian philosopher and scientist Ibn Slnaand Studios (Turkey). She guest edited a special issue on
(Avicenna) entered the service of the court, he treated the
globalization for Domus m in 2001 and has published a
prince of Rayy for melancholia. In The Canon of Medicine,book-length work, (Land)Fill Istanbul: Twelve Scenarios for a
Ibn Slna used similar definitions for the signs of melan-Global City.

November-December 2006 | 43

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