Wednesday, March 27, 2019

ISTANBUL: MEMORIES AND THE CITY -- 19


BY ORHAN PAMUK


Istanbul's hüzün, Pamuk writes, "is a way of looking at life that... is ultimately as life affirming as it is negating." 

His world apparently in permanent decline, Pamuk revels in the darkness and decay manifest around him. 

He minutely describes horrific accidents on the Bosphorus Strait and his own recurring fantasies of murder and mayhem. 

Throughout, Pamuk details the breakdown of his family: elders die, his parents fight and grow apart, and he must find his way in the world. 

This is a powerful, sometimes disturbing literary journey through the soul of a great city told by one of its great writers.

-- Publishers Weekly

No comments:

Post a Comment