Orhan Pamuk:

Nationalists do the opposite of serving their country

Nobel Price winner, Orhan Pamuk has visited Romania and had a series of meetings and discussions with his readers and fellow writers. At the Romanian Atheneum the Turkish novelist met with Norman Manea, Emil Hurezeanu, Tudor Octavian, Dragos Bucurenci, Ovidiu Simonca and hundreds of readers.

Orhan Pamuk, winner of Nobel Price for Literature

Orhan Pamuk has won Nobel Price for Literature in 2006 and the Romanian public knows him from his novels: “My name is Red”, “The White Fortress”, “The Black Book”, and “The New Life”. Two other books are to be translated and printed by Curtea Veche Publishing House – “The Snow” and “The Museum of Innocence”.

Emil Hurezeanu, the host of the evening, Orhan Pamuk and Marius Chivu publicist at Dilema Veche

In a country where the controversy between religious fundamentalists and defenders of a laic state is vivid, the writings of Pamuk created lively disputes and even brought him trials and death threats. Turkish public opinion was outraged by him admitting the genocide against Armenians during the Ottoman Empire and against the Kurd minority nowadays. So the topic of nationalism couldn’t be avoided during the meeting in Bucharest.

Romanian writer Norman Manea, among the authors with chances in winning the Nobel Price

Orhan Pamuk had a clear take, stating that he mistrusts nationalists because they “only want to seduce the poor and the uneducated”. The nationalist movement, in Pamuk’s view, does not serve the nation by suppressing freedom of speech, cultural development and human rights.

Razvan Exarhu, the author of the most inspired questions from the public

Nationalism is even less understandable in Turkey, said Pamuk, since this was not even the case of gathering the forces of a nation against a conquering empire, quite contrary, Turks take great pride in their Ottoman heritage.

The most interesting intervention from the public was that of publicist Razvan Exarhu, who asked Pamuk whether he feels accomplished as a writer now that a compatriot, also a writer, tried to kill him, outraged by his writings. Pamuk, who faced prosecution of the Turkish state, said that the only damage that his Government ever managed to inflict on him was the fact that everybody is now asking him political questions when he is abroad.

Autographs

Exarhu also managed to make everybody smile when telling he found out from Turkish speakers that the name Pamuk actually means “cotton”, which means that the writer has a huge advertising, with messages on all tee-shirts saying “Pamuk 100%”.

Dragos Bucurenci and Livia Szasz from Curtea Veche Publishing House

Marius Chivu, publicist for Dilema veche brought up the problem of translations, an interesting topic for an author traduced in 56 languages. In front of the audience was read a page from the book “My name is Red”, translated by Professor Luminita Munteanu; the applauses from the public convinced Pamuk that the musicality of his writing was not “lost in translation”.

Margareta Paslaru, among the readers of Orhan Pamuk

Orhan Pamuk remains a cosmopolite author, attached to the cultural heritage of Mustafa Kema Ataturk, the general who modernized Turkey by force. At Atheneu, he confessed being brought up in a house full of books his father gathered, not noticing whether they were books of French or English origin. But he gladly returns to the Ottoman period, even for the pictural effect of that atmosphere.

Editor Iren Arsene from Curtea Veche Publishing House and writer Tudor Octavian

Pamuk is indeed a visual writer that would also want his books to keep their music when translated; he sometimes even sings the rhythm of his phrases while negotiating with his English translator. An aspect he holds dear is the movement from detail to high ideas that he noticed being mastered by Dostoevsky.

Actress Rodica Mandache listening to Orhan Pamuk

During his trip to Bucharest, Pamuk was accompanied by a little camera and explained the public he takes lots of pictures to show them at home. He is even amazed that not everybody is doing the same thing. Pamuk imagines a world where all the people had a tiny camera on their forehead and recorded their entire existence from the time of birth, or at least using it as a diary of their life.