Orhan Pamuk - Writer
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He first novel, Karanlık ve Işık (Darkness and Light), shared the first prize with Mehmet Eroğlu at the Novel Competition of daily Millliyet Newspaper in 1979. This novel, which tells the story of three generations of a wealthy Istanbul family, was published under the title Cevdet Bey ve Oğulları (Cevdet Bey and His Sons) in 1982 and won the Orhan Kemal Novel Prize the same year.
In 1983, Pamuk published his novel Sessiz Ev (The Silent House), French translation of which won 1991 Prix de la Découverte Européene. This novel talks about the week a grandmother and her grandchildren spent in her summerhouse.
Beyaz Kale (The White Castle), published in 1985, is the tale of a Venetian slave and an Ottoman scholar; the friendship and tension among them. The novel was first translated into English in 1990 and to other languages afterwards, and this brought Pamuk his first international fame.
Orhan Pamuk and his wife started living in the United States in 1985, where he worked as a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York until 1988. Kara Kitap (The Black Book), most of which he wrote during that time, was published in Turkey in 1990. In this novel, the streets, past, chemistry and texture of Istanbul were told through the story of a lawyer who is searching for his lost wife. The French translation won the Prix France Culture in 2004, enabling Orhan Pamuk to become internationally popular.
Pamuk's daughter Rüya was born in 1991. The film Gizli Yüz (Hidden Face), the script of which was based on one-page story from The Black Book, was produced the same year.
Yeni Hayat (The New Life) was published in Turkey in 1994. The book is about university students, who were influenced by a mysterious book. The New Life is also among the most read books of Turkish literature.
His novel Benim Adım Kırmızı (My Name is Red) was published in 1998. This book is about Ottoman and Persian artists and their attitudes and portraying ways of non-western world told through a love and family-conspiracies story. This novel enabled Pamuk to win French Prix Du Meilleur Livre Etranger, Italian Grinzane Cavour (2002) and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (2003).
Beginning from mid 90s Pamuk exhibited a critical stance with his articles about human rights, and freedom of speech; taking minor interest in politics.
His first and last political novel Kar (Snow) was published in 2002. The story is set in Kars, an eastern city in Turkey and is about the tension and violence among political Islamists, soldiers, secularists, Kurdish and Turkish nationalists. New York Times Book Review chose the novel among the best ten books of 2004.
A selection of Pamuk's literary and cultural articles published in Turkish and in international newspapers and magazines, including a wide selection from his diaries, was published under the title Öteki Renkler (Other Colors) in 1999.
Istanbul: Hatıralar ve Şehir (Istanbul: Memories and the City) is the name of Pamuk's most recent book, which was published in 2003. It is a hard-to-classify poetical work composed of both Pamuk's memories until the age of 22 and an essay on Istanbul, which is enriched with photographs from his own albums, paintings of western artists and works of Turkish photographers.
Orhan Pamuk has spent all his life on the same streets and district, except for the three years he spent in New York. He has still been living in the same house he was born in and has been earning his living by writing novels for 30 years. His books have been translated into 34 different languages, including the Japanese publication of My Name is Red.
Orhan Pamuk was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in October 2006, being the first Turkish citizen receiving the Nobel Prize. In the press bulletin of Swedish Svenska Akademien declares in the press bulletin, "The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2006 is awarded to the Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures."
Please click for Orhan Pamuk's Nobel Lecture in English, entitled Babamın Bavulu (My Father's Suitcase).
Orhan Pamuk's Book Published in English:
The White Castle / translated from the Turkish by Victoria Holbrook. - New York : Braziller, 1991 ; London : Faber & Faber, 2001. - Translation of Beyaz Kale
The Black Book / translated by: Günseli Gün. - New York : Farrar, Straus, 1994 ; London : Faber & Faber, 1994. - Translation of Kara Kitap
The Black Book / translated by: Maureen Freely. - New York : Knopf, 2006 ; London : Faber & Faber, 2006. - Translation of Kara Kitap
The New Life / translated by Güneli Gün. - New York : Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997 ; London : Faber & Faber, 1997. - Translation of Yeni Hayat
My Name is Red / translated from the Turkish by Erdağ M. Göknar. - New York : Knopf, 2001 ; London : Faber & Faber, 2001. - Translation of Benim Adım Kırmızı
Snow / translated from the Turkish by Maureen Freely. - New York : Knopf, 2004 ; London : Faber & Faber, 2004. - Translation of Kar
Istanbul : Memories and the City / translated from the Turkish by Maureen Freely. - New York : Knopf, 2005 ; London : Faber & Faber, 2005. - Translation of İstanbul : Hatıralar Ve Şehir
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