Culture in Orhan Pamuk's Select Novels Istanbul, Snow and The Black Book

By Dr. Kanchana Sundaram

The literature of the Turks is among the oldest of those of living literatures. In nearly twelve centuries, it has been alive in many continents and regions, expressing itself in a diversity of languages and scripts, and remaining receptive to the external influences as well as maint

• Language: English
• Publisher: SMART MOVES
• Release date: Jan 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9788194927921

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Culture in Orhan Pamuk’s Select Novels Istanbul, Snow and The Black Book

Culture in Orhan Pamuk’s Select Novels Istanbul, Snow and The Black Book

Culture in Orhan Pamuk’s Select Novels Istanbul, Snow and The Black Book

Dr. Kanchana Sundaram

SMART MOVES

Book Title:‘Culture’ in Orhan Pamuk’s Select Novels: Istanbul, Snow and The Black Book

Book Author: Dr. Kanchana Sundaram

Published by SMART MOVES

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Printed and bound by SMART MOVES

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pISBN: 978-81-949279-2-1

This edition published in: 2023  ISBN (ISBN Pending)

Copyright ©2023 by Dr. Kanchana Sundaram

Dr. Kanchana Sundaram , asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events and locales is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electrical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author or publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

SMART MOVES PUBLICATION

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ISBN 978-81-949279-2-1

This book has been published with all reasonable efforts taken to make the material error-free after the consent of the author. No part of this book shall be used, reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The Author of this book is solely responsible and liable for its content including but not limited to the views, representations, descriptions, statements, information, opinions and references [Content]. The Content of this book shall not constitute or be construed or deemed to reflect the opinion or expression of the Publisher or Editor. Neither the Publisher nor Editor endorse or approve the Content of this book or guarantee the reliability, accuracy or completeness of the Content published herein and do not make any representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose. The Publisher and Editor shall not be liable whatsoever for any errors, omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause or claims for loss or damages of any kind, including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage arising out of use, inability to use, or about the reliability, accuracy or sufficiency of the information contained in this book

The book is dedicated to my family, friends and all teachers.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The world is a better place, thanks to people who want to develop and lead others. What makes it even better are people who share the gift of their time to help others. I would like to thank the countless people for their help throughout my life, without whom I would not be who I am and acknowledge those who have had the greatest impact on me.

I sincerely and gratefully express my gratitude to my Research Director Dr. K. SANDHYA, Reader in English, Maris Stella College for her valuable guidance. Her wisdom, knowledge and contemplation of high standards has inspired and motivated me. It has been an honour to be her scholar.

I thank my parents S.Suseelamani and P.R.Sundaram for their endless love, support and encouragement. I also thank my brother Sekhar Sundaram for always being my biggest supporter.

Above all I would like to thank my Husband Rajiv Mandava for his love and constant support. But most of all, thank you for being my best friend. Thank you Adhira Mandava and Adhish Mandava for making me stronger, better and more fulfilled than I could have ever imagined.

I would like to thank my (best) friend Prativa Rani Saha for being my muse, editor, proofreader, critic and sounding board. I also thank Professor Dr Jyotsna Cherukuri for the unwavering support and mentoring.

I thank my students who never cease to motivate and inspire me. 

PREFACE

The literature of the Turks is among the oldest of those of living literatures. In nearly twelve centuries, it has been alive in many continents and regions, expressing itself in a diversity of languages and scripts, and remaining receptive to the external influences as well as maintaining its intrinsic impetus for renewal. From Central Asia to Anatolia and beyond, it has served as a faithful mirror of Turkish societies and cultures, often functioning as a vehicle for pioneering ideas and ideals. As such, Turkish literature is both a repository of time-honoured values and a powerful catalyst for change. Its main emphasis is on Seljuk, Ottoman, and modern Turkish literature as well as on Central Asian roots.

Turkish literature comprises both oral compositions and written texts in the Turkish language, either in its Ottoman form or in less exclusively literary forms, such as that spoken in the Republic of Turkey today. The Ottoman Turkish language, which forms the basis of much of the written corpus, was influenced by Persian and Arabic and used a variant of the Perso-Arabic script.

Throughout most of its history, Turkish literature has been rather sharply divided into two rather different traditions, neither of which exercised much influence upon the other until the 19th century. The first of these two traditions is Turkish folk literature, and the second is Turkish written literature. Turkish literature is among the world’s oldest—and youngest—literatures.  Its creative tradition, according to the claims of numerous scholars, dates back to before Christ.  It is commonly accepted that its legacy of written works spans close to thirteen centuries.

The Turkish novel appeared in the second half of the nineteenth century, in the 1870's. This was a time of weakness and disintegration for the Ottoman Empire; for the past two hundred years, the empire was losing wars and its economic stability. In hopes of saving the empire from total ruin, the government and the intellectuals of the time were working towards social and political changes that came in the shape of westernization. Actually, westernization started in the eighteenth century, when taking technical knowledge in the military area from the West was seen as a necessity.

In the 1980s, following the footsteps of Tanpinar and Atay, Orhan Pamuk (1952-  ), the voice of the intellectual, appeared in whose novels one could not find a one to one correlation with social problems and political issues but only an indication of them. This was very atypical of the Turkish novel in general, which usually had a clear political standing.

Under the auspices of fiction, dead men speak, and trees tell tales, feats displayed in the Ottoman otherworldliness are reflected in the books of Orhan Pamuk. Pamuk’s diverse approach to be critically engaged in Turkey’s perennial dilemma that is how to live in a westernized fashion in a country that is essentially Non-Western.

In Pamuk’s novels one can find intelligent games, playful narration, and in fact technical refinement. So far he has written seven novels with different narrative techniques. When one looks at his novels in general, one can see that he deals with the long lasting westernization project of his country in most of his novels. This issue of westernization has been and still is one of the most popular subjects of the Turkish novel. But Pamuk tries to deconstruct the binary opposition of East and West from the standpoint of a writer who is caught within this opposition as a twentieth century Turkish intellectual. His novels have been translated into many languages.

The object of study is to focus on thematic and cultural analysis in a broader perspective in Orhan Pamuk’s Select novels: Istanbul: Memories and the City, Snow and The Black Book.

The thesis is an analysis of Turkish history and its impact on Turkish writing and various cultural issues faced like Cultural Identity, Exchange and Conflation of Binaries, Crisis of representation in Islamic culture and also the reasons why Turkey has been a bone of contention between Europe and Asia in the last 100 years or more. Pamuk’s fiction addresses all the above-mentioned themes set in Turkey, which happens to the issues we Indians also witness in this Post-Independent era. The thesis also analyses how Pamuk explores the clashes and symmetries of secularism, nationalism and Islam in Turkish hearts and minds

1

Introduction

1

Turkish History, Civilization and Literature

Asia Minor reflects a great cross road of ancient civilizations and is geographically positioned between the Black sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The Romans called this broad peninsula as Lesser Minor and it has become the Asian Part of the present Modern Turkey. This peninsula is spread from the east of Greece, the Aegean Sea across Thrace and Greeks call this land as Anatolia.

Asia Minor is located to the west of Asia and half a mile towards Europe at the separated city of Istanbul. The two continents Europe and Asia Minor are linked by two suspension bridges over the Bosphorus River. Asia Minor shares it borders on the northwest with the Sea of Marmara. The peninsula area is of 292,000 square miles.

The high arid plateau of Asia Minor about 3,000 feet is flanked by rugged mountain ranges to the north and south. Several salty lakes were formed in the plateau region by a number of mountain ranges enclosing valleys which are flat and broad.

The coastal areas of Asia Minor experience Mediterranean climate of moderate, moist winters and hot summers. The dry central plateau has cold winters and hot summers. Powerful winds and little summer rainfall are the characteristics of this climatic zone. The coastal regions receive rainfall by the Mediterranean winds.

Hittites ruled Asia Minor in about 2000 BC; they migrated from the eastern part of the Black Sea and Hittites civilization rivalled with the glory of the Egyptian civilization and the Babylonians. Assyrians, in the 12th century BC conquered the Hittites Empire. Greeks colonized the entire coast around the 8th century BC including the new small seaboard states.

Asia Minor experienced centuries of peace after Rome conquered it in the second century BC. As a part of the Byzantine Empire, Asia Minor during the middle Ages became a centre of Christianity and the protector of Roman and Greek culture. From the history, it is evident that a major medieval trade route passed across the region. With the decline of the Empire's power, Mongols and Arabs invaded the country.  The Ottoman Turks in the 15th century conquered Asia Minor and made it Constantinople, the present Istanbul, the capital of the kingdom. The Ottoman Empire regime endured till 1922. Finally in 1923, Asia Minor was made a portion of the Republic of Turkey under Kemal Atatürk. Atatürk, the ruler instituted a new government in Ankara, with Istanbul as the new capital of Turkey.

The history of Turkey reflects a civilization of 10,000 years. History cites that Anatolia, a cultural melting pot where many cultures from Assyria, Babylon and Sumer interacted and integrated for many centuries with people like the Hourrites, the Hattis and the Hittites. A unique Anatolian civilisation resulted from these interactions and this continues to inspire legends and their thoughts of the West. The first independent city states were established during the ancient Bronze Age. During the same period South east and central southeast Anatolia was inhabited by the indigenous tribes, the Hattis. The most amazing findings Horoztepe near Tokat located in the region of the Black Sea, Alpaca Hayek of the Kizilirmak region in those times.  The royal tombs situated in Mycenae situated in Greece are the contemporaries of these spectacular findings.

From the history it is evident that the silk industry played an important part and parcel of many nations since ancient times. The Silk industry became more important today. Spices and Silk coming from the East played a commendable role in global relations. The trade of Silk facilitated the interaction between West and the East. Merchants travelling from East to West initiated this acquaintance.

A trade route which originated in Xian linked China with the West. A caravan route by nature exercised a crucial role in the exchange between the Chinese and the Roman civilisations. Kashgar, acted as a convergent point in the business of silk, spices precious stone and china paper before the Turks arrived in Anatolia. The region of Anatolia functioned as a bridge between Asia and Europe across Thrace region. The trade route has later become the Silk Road. Then in the near future Anatolia positioned at the confluences of the crossroads.   

(David Christian, 19)

The Hurri civilization incepted towards the last half of the 3rd Millennium BC in Eastern part of Anatolia and was ruled by Mitanni kings. The king was of Indian descent. The Hurrian nomads from the mountains located in the southern part of the Caspian Sea captured the land situated between Assyria. The Tigris River and also occupied the mountain region of Zagros. The Hitties expanded their empire into the Mesopotamia region as well as Syria and marched towards the Mediterranean coast. Land of the Hurri reflected the Hurri Civilisation. The Hurrians posed a threat to Egypt and Baylon. The general belief is that non-Indo-European and non-Semitic ethnic groups came from the mountains of Armenia. Tell Brak, Nuzi, Shagar, Tell Feheriye, Bazar, Urkesh were the most important centres in this region.

The separate entity of Hurri language made it unique and different from other languages. The language and culture of Hurri civilization were adopted by the people of Hittites and Urartus. Hurrian texts were found in Urkish 2300 BC, around 1700 BC in Mari, around the in Amarna, middle of Euphrates 1400 BC, 1700-1200 BC, in Hattusha and in the northern Syrian coast, Ugarit, 1300 BC. It is strongly believed by the Russian scholars that the languages of the Eastern Caucasian origin belong to the Hurrian-Urartian group.

Hatti civilization (2500-2000 B.C.): According to Anatolian History, the Hattis are the oldest settlers in the region. The Hattis ruled Central Anatolia for 500 years. Their favourite settlements were small city kingdoms and they spoke a language different than powerful Anatolian civilizations. Mesopotamian influence cans be found in the field of Hatti’s culture, art and music. Horoztepe, Mahmatlar, Hattus and Alacahoyukare the main cities inside the Kizilirmak bend. The Hattis worshiped pagan gods depicting various forms of nature like birds, animals. Today one can find the statues of these gods in many museums in Turkey.

 Ancient people of Asia Minor and Syria constituted the Hittites. The Civilization of Hittites flourished during 1600 to 1200 B.C. The Hittites entered Cappadocia during 1800 B.C. With Bogazköy as the capital, the Hittite empire was the cultural force. The chief powers in Western Asia were the Hittites from 1400 to 1200 B.C. The Hittites’ confederation crumbled due to the invasions of the Phrygians, Thracians, and the Assyrians (1200 B.C.)  The kingdom of Neo-Hittite flourished in 1050-700 B.C and it was conquered by the Assyrians. According to History, the Hittites were the first people to melt iron. Their language belonged to the Indo-European family.  Babylonian civilisation guided Hittites who enjoyed the monopoly of iron in Asian kingdoms. The use of iron and the chariot assisted the Hittites to gain military supremacy over Mesopotamian states. The decline of the glory of the Hittite empire started after the successful raid in 1590 BC. The first part of the 14th century, saw the revival of Hittites power. Hittite domination stretched from the gulf of Persia to   the Mediterranean shores in the second era of the 14th century.

The Battle of Kadesh was the first true battle between Egyptians and the Hittites (1275 BC) to study, as enough historical evidence survives, from both sides. The armies were massive and powerful. Battle depictions and Inscriptions were found in remissive Egypt and details of the battle were mentioned in an epic poem by an unknown Egyptian.

Assyrian lands with its capital city Ashur were located in northern Mesopotamia of the Upper Tigris River. The civilization of the Assyrians returned to power around 12th century BC. The modern Iraq fall in the Mesopotamia region and the Empire expanded across the regions of modern Turkey and cities in Anatolia.

The Mitanni people were from the South Caspian Sea. This kingdom was the enemy and contemporary of the Hittites. The Hourrites founded this kingdom. The Hourrites exerted some influence on the religion of the Hittites.  Two-wheel chariots and horses were their contributions to the people in the Near East.

In the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, a unified state created by the rulers of Urartus spread from Lake Urmiya to the region of the Caucasus with Van as its capital. The Urartus mastered the skills of irrigation, drainage and masters in hydraulic works, The Uratus executed the construction of artificial lakes and canals in the region Cavalry and horse breeding was a part of their occupation which they were famous for.

The Phrygians settled in Western and Central Anatolia with Gordion (750-300 BC) on the Sakarya River as their capital, located in the Afyon-Ankara-Eskisehir triangle. The Phrygians civilisation reached its zenith under the famous King Midas in the latter part of the 8th century BC. Greek mythology states that Apollo made fun of King Midas about his Donkey’s ears and Dionysus empowered him to turn everything into gold by his touch and Gordon lost to Persian. The Lycian tombs carved in south-western Turkey are monumental and dates back to 700-500 BC. These tombs with their lonesome and overpowering presence impress the visitors.

The Lydians invented money after the Greeks during 800. Constantinople is the region on the Bosphorus shores.  Greeks, Phrygians, Hittites and Hattis inhabited the Byzantium Empire. The Lydians made the state an Orient. The Byzantium civilisation prospered and evolved as the Eastern Roman Empire. The state proclaimed the official religion in 380 as Christianity and banned paganism in 392 A.D.  With the collapse of Rome in 476, Constantinople remained the capital. Byzantium a civilisation and state constructed in line with the models of the Roman state taking the Greek culture and Roman faith. The emperor is bestowed with divine power making him to depend entirely on the Church.

Christians are a minority as Muslims constituted 98 percent of the population in Turkey. Turkey is a secular country, with a majority of theMuslim population and the government does not have an official religion of the state. The Constitution of Turkey assures freedom towards tolerance and religion. Members of the Armenian Apostle, Greek Orthodox churches,   Eastern Catholics, Romans and Jews constitute the population. Nearly 26,000 Jews and 120,000 Christians live in secular Turkey, as a part of the 73 million of total Turkey's population.

Turkish government had a dispute about the inclusion of Islam as a part and a parcel of Turkey. It became a controversial issue for Turkey as it tried to alter the Turkish society whose organisation is based totally on a religious / secular basis.

According to Kafadar, Many Christians escaped the oppressions after the crucifixion of Christ and settled in cities Cappadocia, Hierapolis and Ephesus. (Kafadar, 120)The destruction of the Pagan temples began with the declaration of Christianity as the official religion. The Dhimmi tax levied on the non-Muslims led to  the conversions and migration of people to other parts. All these factors led to the disintegration of Christianity in Turkey and finally the Islamic Ottomans surmounted the Byzantine Empire, and made it more Islamic in nature.

(Harrison Gray O. Dwight, 220)

The Byzantine Empire which emerged as the Eastern Roman Empire bears the influence and augmentation of the Roman Empire. Eastern and southern Europe, parts of the Middle East and Northern Africa constituted Byzantine and made an empire of the greatest size during the 500 AD.

The Byzantines who descended from various communities of ancient people spoke Greek. They were also called Romans. The word Byzantine, originated from the Greek name Byzantium. Byzantium is the Greek city on the banks of Bosphorus.  Greeks first colonised the region but before the colonisation Alexander the Great brought troops in the mid-600's BC, into Anatolia. Greek cultural influence continued even after the empire integrated with the Roman Empire, the Great Roman Emperor Constantine, shifted the capital to Byzantium from Rome in 330 AD and christened it as Constantinople. This event began the era of the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire’s glory lasted 1000 years, and finally in 1453, Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Turks who rechristened it as Istanbul.

One can find a greater impact of Christianity on the music, Byzantine art, and architecture. The empire with Constantinople as the capital stood not only as political centre bit also as an educational centre. This period in the history was a golden age owing to the advancements made in the field of poetry and prose related to religion. The era gave importance to visual art.  The artists and architects with Hagia Sophia as a role model reached greater echelons.

(Frazee, Charles A)

The Byzantines for 1100 years controlled the empire, somewhat remotely at times.  Recurring wars and internal religious ruptures like Nika Riot balanced the prosperity and expansion of the