Our discussion of Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul: Memories and the City centered on Pamuk's conviction that "Istanbul's fate is my fate. I am attached to this city because it has made me who I am." As one member of our discussion group suggested, Pamuk has embraced his fate and from it created for his readers an almost palpable sense of Istanbul as he knows it, a city of huzun, or shared melancholy, inseparable from his family's life and his interior life as a young artist. Another member of our discussion group, who is a native of Istanbul and an admirer of all of Pamuk's works, asked us whether we felt we could "see" Istanbul after reading Pamuk's memoir, saying that he felt it did a wonderful job of portraying Istanbul but that he was biased by knowing the city and being a fan of Pamuk's writing. We agreed that we do feel we now know Istanbul, but that if we were suddenly to find ourselves in its streets, we would be surprised to see the vibrant, full-color, present-day city rather than the black and white city Pamuk portrays. It is to Pamuk's credit that the city we know so well is the city of his memories.
Readers who enjoyed Pamuk's family stories and honest portrayal of his inner life as an artist will enjoy reading his Nobel Lecture, My Father's Suitcase, in which he presents a poignant story about his relationship with his father as well as his view of the role of literature in today's politically sensitive world.
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