The Nobel Prize in Literature Orhan Pamuk believes it is experiencing a “very dramatic” with the refugee crisis but that the option of “closing walls” may damage “the idea of integrity of Europe” moment.
Pamuk just published in Spanish “A strange feeling” (Ramdom House). The story of the life and dreams of Mevlut, who comes to Istanbul from Anatolia to twelve years and through its history draws the transformation of the Turkish capital since the seventies until the first decade of this century.
“The closing of walls, gates, roads (…) I fear it may damage some idea of the integrity of Europe,” said Pamuk, who said that although many come because of the war, “reasons are deeper,” citing among them “and perhaps economic freedom.”
This is “one of the greatest challenges facing Europe for a long time, even though there was a war the situation would continue and continue,” he said in an interview with Efe.
the book Pamuk speaks in his studio in Istanbul, where a large terrace framed by a nearby mosque minarets leads to a magnificent view of the Bosphorus and the silhouettes of some of the most recognizable buildings city.
“A strange feeling” is an “epic about the problems of the people who came to live in Istanbul in the fifties, sixties and seventies and made with his own hands home” book.
And the common thread is Mevlut Karatas, a street vendor of “painter” (a fermented traditional drink Turkish), who, despite all the twists that gives his life for half a century clings to its night walks through Istanbul shouting “painter”, as the world changes around them.
The book’s title is taken from a verse of the poem “The Prelude” by William Wordsworth: “A strange feeling of not belonging to that place and at that time” and Pamuk explains more than a translation exactly would “be rather strange mind, to see things in a slightly different way,” which is “a compliment he has received throughout life” of his friends.
“The first time I read this sentence, fifteen years ago, remembers I said, this will be a good title for a book, but still will not know what that book.”
And it Mevlut also has “an odd mind,” so one of the challenges of the Nobel Prize was identified with the protagonist, telling the story of a very different person to him by origin, class economic and culture, but with which it shares both “see the world differently.”
A story in which Pamuk (Istanbul, 1962) creates a universe of very different characters, families and Mustafa Aktas Hasan Karatas, and the life of parents, spouses, siblings and cousins passes through the main events in Turkish history, the seller of “stopper” always faces with optimism and a point of detachment.
“I wanted it to be a passive character, that may be at different times of the Turkish life, because if a character of strong decisions, would become very left or right and that’s not what he sought. Some may think that is an opportunist, but a good guy, that to survive and continue their life has to adapt and do not always say what they think. ”
The author of works such as “Istanbul” or “My Name is Red” does not hide his sympathy for Mevlut and recognizes that what he liked about the novel was written on the relationship of the protagonist with his wife, Rayiha whose relationship is born on a misunderstanding, which does not prevent him from being “very happy”.
The idea of openness is what love is, “Is the ‘romanticizing’ love putting it on a pedestal or continuity of friendship, enjoy daily life and, of course, enjoy the sex, “he says with a laugh Pamuk.
“A strange feeling” is told by a narrator whose discourse is sometimes complete, sometimes interrupted by the voice of the characters, including the three sisters of the two, do not hesitate to escape to marry the man they want.
And that Pamuk does not want to represent their “women as weak characters, on the contrary, I want them to make strong, with a powerful language with humor.”
The Nobel is a committed and critical intellectual, whom his denunciation of the Armenian genocide in 1915 brought him into trouble at home, and remains convinced that, “of course, Turkey would be better to stick with its European aspirations “.
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