Šta spaja antički mit o kralju Edipu, persijsku priču o Rustemu i Suhrabu, slučajnu ljubav gimnazijalca i putujuće glumice crvene kose sa kopanjem bunara na starinski način?
U kojoj meri je ljudska sudbina plod svesnih odluka, a u kojoj je određuju slučajnosti? Da li se mitovi obistinjuju? Knjiga koja se beskompromisno spušta u bunar ljudske duše.
Orhan Pamuk – pisac nepresušne spisateljske energije ponovo pred čitaocima sa efektnom i uzbudljivom pričom koja odgoneta misteriju odnosa između oca i sina i koju svako može da pročita na svoj način i da bude u pravu.

Orhan Pamuk je rođen u Istanbulu 1952. godine. Odrastao je u istanbulskoj četvrti Nišantaš, u porodici nalik onima kakve opisuje u svojim romanima Dževdet-beg i njegovi sinovi i Crna knjiga. Po završenoj gimnaziji studirao je arhitekturu, ali se potom opredelio za novinarstvo. Napustio je studije na Tehničkom fakultetu, upisao se na Institut za novinarstvo Istanbulskog univerziteta i diplomirao 1976. godine. Pamuk, koji za sebe kaže da je u detinjstvu i mladosti maštao o tome da postane slikar, aktivno se posvetio pisanju 1974. godine. Izdavačka kuća Milijet dodelila mu je 1979. godine nagradu za rukopis prvog romana Dževdet-beg i njegovi sinovi, koji je objavljen 1982, a godinu dana kasnije dobio je prestižnu nagradu koja nosi ime slavnog turskog pisca Orhana Kemala. Iste godine, 1983, iz štampe izlazi Tiha kuća, njegov drugi roman, koji opisuje tri generacije jedne istanbulske trgovačke porodice. Godine 1984. ovaj je roman, preveden na francuski, dobio nagradu Madarali, a 1991. i Nagradu za evropsko otkriće (Prix de la decouverte europeenne). Istorijski roman Bela tvrđava (1985), u kojem je opisana veza između mletačkog roba i njegovog turskog gospodara, proširio je popularnost i slavu Orhana Pamuka i izvan granica Turske. Ova knjiga, čiji je prevod na engleski Njujork tajms pozdravio rečima „Nova zvezda ukazala se na Istoku“, prevedena je na sve velike zapadne jezike. Njegov četvrti roman, Crna knjiga (1990), zahvaljujući svojoj složenosti, bogatstvu i punoći izraza, smatra se jednim od najkontroverznijih, ali i najpopularnijih romana savremene turske književnosti. Na osnovu ove knjige Pamuk je napisao scenario za film Tajno lice, koji je režirao čuveni turski reditelj Omer Kavur. Taj scenario objavljen je kao knjiga 1992. godine. Roman Novi život je za kratko vreme po objavljivanju (1994) postao jedan od najčitanijih savremenih turskih romana. Na izrazito veliko interesovanje, kako u Turskoj tako i u inostranstvu, naišao je njegov istorijski roman o životu i umetnosti osmanskih majstora minijature u kasnom šesnaestom veku, Zovem se crveno (1998), koji je 2003. godine dobio International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award i Prix Médicis étranger 2005. godine.
Godine 1998. Pamuk je, praveći izbor iz napisa u svojim beleškama koje je vodio od rane mladosti, pod naslovom Druge boje: izabrani spisi i jedna pripovetka, zajedno sa do tada neobjavljenom dugom pripovetkom Gledanje kroz prozor, objavio svoje odabrane tekstove, eseje, novinske članke, kritike, reportaže i putopise. Godine 2002. objavio je roman Sneg, a 2003. knjigu tekstova posvećenu rodnom gradu − Istanbul: uspomene i grad. Dobitnik je Nagrade za mir knjižara Nemačke (Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels) za 2005. godinu. Godine 2006. dodeljena mu je Nobelova nagrada za književnost. Iste godine odlikovan je francuskim Ordenom viteza reda umetnosti i književnosti, a Univerzitet u Vašingtonu dodelio mu je medalju (Distinguished Humanist Medal), koja se bijenalno dodeljuje naučnicima i umetnicima za vrhunska dela i hrabrost.
Orhan Pamuk je počasni član Američke akademije umetnosti i književnosti, kao i Kineske akademije društvenih nauka. Godine 2010. uručena mu je Nagrada „Norman Majler“ za životno delo (2010 Norman Mailer Lifetime Achievement Award).
Knjige Orhana Pamuka prevedene su na više od četrdeset svetskih jezika i prodate u tiražu od više miliona primeraka.

Set in Turkey in the 1980's, this is a story based on the theme of Oedipus of fathers and sons (sons killing fathers), and a Eastern epic about fathers killing sons. Cem is a young man whose Marxist father has abandoned him; in order to earn money for college, Cem takes a job as an assistant to a well-driller (pre fancy equipment). When Master Mahmut finds what he believes will be water, they begin the arduous task of digging by hand and hauling the debris by some sort of cranking system. One night in town, Cem sees and immediately becomes smitten by a red-haired woman who is considerably older than him. In the weeks to come, they have an affair.
After an accident in which Cem lets a heavy bucket drop in the well, Cem escapes home always with the fear that he has accidentally killed Mahmut and fears that he will be found out and arrested. However, years go by and he loses much of that fear as he marries and becomes very prosperous as a contractor.

There are many references to Oedipus and Cem does have somewhat of a relationship with his father. Cem wants children, however, no children are born to the marriage. Years later he finds he does have a son whose mother is the red-haired woman.

A very interesting and well written novel about fate, father-son relationships, and guilt. (Read this after reading Nights of Plague by this author). ( )

I see from Wikipedia that Orhan Pamuk is only about a year older than I am and he won a Nobel Prize for Literature 16 years ago. That means he was only 53 at the time. He isn't the youngest laureate though; that honour goes to Rudyard Kipling who was only 41 when he received the prize. Still, Pamuk's achievement is pretty impressive.

This novel tells the story of a man who as a teenager worked as an assistant to a master well-digger in order to earn money to attend school. Cem and his mother were abandoned by his Marxist father and their financial state is precarious. When Master Mahmut digs a well near to Cem's uncle's orchard Cem is attracted to the work site. After they strike water and finish the well, Master Mahmut offers Cem work on his next job because his current apprentices are leaving him. The pay is good and it is not supposed to take long so even though Cem's mother is doubtful about Cem taking a menial job, Cem signs on. The site of the dig is a dry plateau outside of the small town of Ongoren which is separate from Istanbul at that time but later is swallowed up by it. The work progresses slowly and the only diversion is going into Ongoren in the evening to buy cigarettes (for Master Mahmut) and sip tea at an outdoor cafe. On one of these excursions Cem spies a beautiful red-haired woman and he is instantly smitten with her. He discovers she is an actress in a travelling theatre company that has set up a tent in Ongoren. When he is finally able to attend a performance and meet the woman she takes him home with her and they spend the night together. The next day an accident occurs at the dig site and Master Mahmut is injured at the bottom of the well. Cem can't go down to him because there is no one to lift him up. He goes into Ongoren planning to get help but when he discovers that the red-haired woman and the rest of the theatre troupe have left town he is so distressed he forgets to help Master Mahmut. Incredibly, he packs up his valise and takes the train back to Istanbul. For some time he expects the police to arrest him for murder but he never hears anything about Master Mahmut and he goes on with his life. He marries and he and his wife found a construction company that does well in the building boom going on across Turkey. Cem has been obsessed with the story of Oedipus who murdered his father and married his mother and he looks for images and references to the story wherever he goes. Another story which is sort of the reverse of Oedipus in that the father kills his son also obsesses him. Both of these tales are recreated in this book. Clearly Cem thought of Master Mahmut as a father figure and although he doesn't commit incest his one night stand with the red-haired woman has an incestuous tone to it. When he is a successful businessman he receives a letter from a young man who claims to be his son and a paternity test proves that the one night stand resulted in a pregnancy. As Cem and his wife have no children this boy stands to inherit much from Cem. A confrontation between the two is the first and last time that Cem and his son meet and at the end one of them is dead. I won't spoil the ending by divulging who it is.

I hope this isn't the best book Pamuk has every written because I thought it was heavy-handed in terms of the analogy between the historical stories and the present day. I also felt Cem abandoning Master Mahmut and never trying to learn what happened to him was unlikely. Maybe one day I'll pick up one of Pamuk's earlier works. ( )

Excellent at Times

This is the first novel by Orhan Pamuk that I have read. It is a mixed bag, but I will be looking for other books by Pamuk in the future.

The book is written in three parts, all of which I found to be non-contiguous, not because they were unrelated but because the styles were so different. The first part, about 100 hundred pages long, was a fast, fascinating movie about a young man coming of age in 1980's Turkey. The second part, about 200 pages long, was slower and somewhat tedious. It focused on the young man as an adult, building a business empire with his wife, who is never given any exposition as a character. The third part is only 30 or so pages. It switches to the perspective of the young man's first love and reads somewhat haphazardly, perhaps because the love interest is herself quite a haphazard character.

The first part of the book was so engrossing that it kept the book interesting. I remained curious about unresolved events in the young man's coming of age story. Unfortunately, the novel dragged after the first part and I read from obligation.

Nevertheless, because I enjoyed that first part so much, I will look for more from Pamuk in the future. ( )

Nagyszerű nézőpont, végig fenntartott feszültség – modern és ősi történetek szövevénye. Sodró lendület, bár nem mindig a fizikai cselekmény által. Szövevényes családregény, mitikus szerelmi történet és fájdalmas szülő-gyermek viszony egyben – zseniális egésszé gyúrva. ( )