Description

A glistening evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of 1 of the world’s great cities, by its foremost author. Orhan Pamuk was created in Istanbul and still lives in the household house building where his mom first placed him in her hands. His portrait of his city is hence also a self-portrait, refracted by storage and the melancholy–or hüzün– that all Istanbullus share: the unhappiness that comes of living amid the ruins of the missing empire.With cinematic fluidity, Pamuk goes from his attractive, disappointed parents towards the beautiful, decrepit mansions overlooking the Bosphorus; from the dawning of his self-consciousness for the authors and painters–both Turkish and foreign–who might form his consciousness of his city. Like Borges’ Buenos Aires and Joyce’s Dublin, Pamuk’s Istanbul is just a victorious experience of feeling and location, profoundly moving and superbly composed.