By any measure, Turkey’s Orhan Pamuk is one of the most celebrated and respected writers alive. The author of six novels, a memoir, and a recent essay collection, Pamuk was the recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. Three years earlier he won the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award — the world’s most lucrative prize for an individual work of fiction — for his novel My Name Is Red. On the second night of IFOA XXX, Pamuk took to Toronto’s Fleck Dance Theatre to read from his new novel, The Museum of Innocence. Set in 1970s Istanbul, the novel (an excerpt from which recently appeared in The New Yorker) is the story of Kemal, a wealthy man who becomes enthralled with a young shopgirl and spends nearly a decade trying to woo her.
Pamuk delivered a few well-received passages before sitting down for a wide-ranging talk with CBC Radio host Carol Off. For the first part of the interview, they discussed the novel’s thematic concerns. Like most of Pamuk’s work, The Museum of Innocence focuses on the fault lines in a society dealing with the competing strains and allures of tradition and progress, of Islam and the West. An obviously cosmopolitan man, Pamuk expressed his sympathies for the progressive side, though he criticized those who congratulate themselves on their outward modernism (which, he said, largely amounts to the frivolity of European shopping sprees) while harbouring deep conservatism within. At that, the conversation turned to political matters.
It’s a long-standing PEN Canada tradition to place an empty chair on stage at its events to symbolize the many writers around the world who cannot freely participate in such proceedings. For the past fifteen years, IFOA has observed this tradition in the name of a specific author. This year’s selection is of intimate relevance to Pamuk. In January 2007, Turkish-Armenian magazine editor Hrant Dink was shot to death outside his office in Istanbul. Prior to the assassination, Dink had become one of the few people convicted under Article 301 of the Turkish penal code for “insulting Turkishness” in his writings on the Armenian genocide. Pamuk was charged under the same article for his own comments on the topic in 2005.
When Off broached the subject of his relationship with Dink, Pamuk demurred, explaining that he has strong private feelings, but does not share them in interviews. He seemed somewhat reticent to discuss politics at all, preferring to speak about his literary work. This sparked an interesting exchange about interviewers’ tendency to question writers about politics, as well as a minor audience revolt.
After the interview, Pamuk took questions from the crowd. Of particular interest was his response to a question about the experience of having his novels translated into English. He explained that English is the only non-native language he’s comfortable with, and that he collaborates with his translator to ensure that the reworked text maintains the subtle artistry of his Turkish original. Regardless of the translation’s quality, he went on, the first reading always leaves him depressed, as it’s difficult to see his Turkish voice replaced with an English one. In part, he settles on an acceptable translation by simply growing used to it.
Those who’ve never read any of Pamuk’s work would do well to peruse his extraordinary Nobel lecture; anyone who regrets missing last night’s event may want to give his 2008 appearance at the University of California a look. Both serve as fitting, yet succinct introductions to one of the world’s most important writers.
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