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Last posts

Orhan Pamuk and Istanbul

Mónica Boixeda Istanbulite, Only-Be

Given the personal conviction of Orhan Pamuk, based on his first-hand experiences as an Istanbul-born, that the feeling that best serves to describe Istanbul in the last one hundred and fifty years, and notably from the disappearance of the Otoman Empire, is of bitterness, which has a lot of melancholy, or rather an essentially bitter melancholy. And the fact that this statement, in no way exclusive in relation to the unconditional love that Pamuk feels for the city, a true protagonist of some of his most important books, is not easy to digest for a number of his co-citizens, the Turkish writer has confessed to feel some sort of undeniable happiness every time that he reads of listens other say that melancholy is the most identifying attributes of old Byzantium, like it happens for example in the books of French writers who visited it in the 19th century most notably Gérard de Nerval, from who it can be said that he carried his ´black sun of melancholy´ wherever he went. And, on his tail and always following his footsteps, his friend Théophile Gautier, author of a splendid book of articles titled ´Constantinople´. They both contributed to make Pamuk feel vindicated for having wanted to speak so much about the feeling that this city produces to him, where he´s spend his entire life voluntarily. Curiously, Nerval never piled on the agony when he talked about Istanbul in his ´Voyage en Orient´. It´s just that the melancholy was stuck to his skin and his soul and, despite his attempts to distance himself from them, it was impossible to do so. When... read more