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Orhan Pamuk's New Life, rubbish or literature?
Posted by Lale on 12/6/2001, 18:20:02
In the beginning, Orhan Pamuk was doing well. I respected him.
His White Castle, Black Book and Cevdet Bey were interesting
books. Then in 1996, I heard him, in an interview, claim that he
Now, when I listened to that interview, I had already read The
Name of the Rose and The Black Book and noticed the uncanny
similarity of how both books started. Those of you, out there, who
have read both books, please comment.
Pamuk's The New Life is, according to some readers, a brilliant
masterpiece. According to some others, it is trash. Would you care
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Posted by Todd Denney on 12/6/2001, 20:52:27, in reply to "Orhan
Pamuk's New Life, rubbish or literature?"
I thought THE NEW LIFE was fantastic. It's been a while since I have
read the novel, so I would have to give it another good look to be
at all specific. As for claims to be Turkey's Umberto Eco, it
depends on the context in which Mr. Pamuk made the remark. Did
he say this with hubris or did he merely comment that he was
exploring similar terrain as Eco? I wouldn't say the latter was
inaccurate. If I were recommending books to a friend I would
place the books I have read by Orhan Pamuk in the same stack as
those by Eco - but also Paul Bowles, Rikki Ducornet, Saramago,
Kobo Abe, and Victor Pelevin. The comparison to Eco is useful -
both writers create works that resuscitate esoterica and explore
the existential possibilities of the Medieval. I personally enjoyed
THE NEW LIFE and prefer it to anything Eco has written - Pamuk is
more humane and interesting and never punishes the reader for
being fascinated with the obscure. Thanks for the e-mail, I will be
looking at your website later when I have some free time. Take
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