The Museum of Innocence Orhan Pamuk

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Museum of Innocence Orhan Pamuk The Museum of Innocence Orhan Pamuk Discussion Questions 1. Kemal says he has become "with the passage of time—the anthropologist of my experience." Talk about what he means by this remark—what he collects, preserves and his reasons for doing so. What objects do all of us hold onto from our past and why? What do we want them to provide us? 2. What kind of character is Kemal? What kind of narrator is he? (Is there a difference?) How would you describe him? 3. Why is Kemal so drawn to Fusun? Why doesn't he break off his engagement with Sibel? How does his obses- sion with Fusun shape (or misshape) his life, perhaps stop him from grasping "the ordinary beauty of things"? 4. What kind of young woman is Fusun? And what about Sibel? What does Sibel mean when she comments, "It's because she was a poor, ambitious girl that you were able to start something so easily?" 5. What do you make of the fact that Pamuk puts himself into his story? When he shows up at Kemal and Sibel's engagement party, Kemal tells us, "Those interested in Orhan Bey’s own description of how he felt while dancing with Fusun should look at the last chapter, entitled ‘Happiness.'" What's the game about? 6. How does Kemal describe his social circle? 7. What is the political context that surrounds this story? Why does Kemal seem blind to the dire circumstances around him—the bombs, riots, crackdowns and jailings? Is it apathy, love-sickness, or innocence that distracts him? 8. What does Kemal mean when he says, "This is not simply a story of lovers, but of the entire realm, that is, of Istanbul”? 9. Do you find the ending satisfying...or does it smack of manipulation? Do you wish for more...or does the story end as it should? 10. What is the significance of the book's title? What does it refer to? Why "innocence"? The Museum of Innocence Orhan Pamuk About the Author Ferit Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish novelist. He is also the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Co- lumbia University, where he teaches comparative literature and writing. One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, his work has sold over seven million books in more than fifty lan- guages, making him the country's best-selling writer. Pamuk is the recipient of numerous literary awards, includ- ing the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature—the first Nobel Prize to be awarded to a Turkish citizen. Pamuk is the author of novels including The White Castle, The Black Book, The New Life, My Name Is Red, Snow and The Museum of Innocence. He is the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he teaches writing and comparative literature. This book is available for download as an eBook and an eAudiobook. For more information, please visit lpl.overdrive.com or call 519-661-4600. Source: http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/641-museum-of-innocence-pamuk?start=1 .
Recommended publications
  • Spaces Through Things/Objects in the Selected Works of Georges Perec and Orhan Pamuk
    CONSTRUCTION OF “PHYSICAL” AND “DREAM” SPACES THROUGH THINGS/OBJECTS IN THE SELECTED WORKS OF GEORGES PEREC AND ORHAN PAMUK A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY MÜGE ÖZMEN IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE IN ARCHITECTURE SEPTEMBER 2014 Approval of the thesis: CONSTRUCTION OF “PHYSICAL” AND “DREAM” SPACES THROUGH THINGS/OBJECTS IN THE SELECTED WORKS OF GEORGES PEREC AND ORHAN PAMUK submitted by MÜGE ÖZMEN in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture in Architecture Department, Middle East Technical University by, Prof. Dr. Canan Özgen _____________________ Dean, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences Prof. Dr. Güven Arif Sargın _____________________ Head of Department, Architecture Assist. Prof. Dr. Sevil Enginsoy Ekinci _____________________ Supervisor, Architecture Dept., METU Prof. Dr. Ayşen Savaş _____________________ Co-Supervisor, Architecture Dept., METU Examining Committee Members: Prof. Dr. Ali Cengizkan _____________________ Architecture Dept., METU Assist. Prof. Dr. Sevil Enginsoy Ekinci _____________________ Architecture Dept., METU Prof. Dr. Ayşen Savaş _____________________ Architecture Dept., METU Assoc. Prof. Dr. Esin Boyacıoğlu _____________________ Architecture Dept., Gazi University Inst. Dr. Haluk Zelef _____________________ Architecture Dept., METU Date: 05.09.2014 I hereby declare that all information in this thesis document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as reqıired by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last Name: Müge Özmen Signature: iv ABSTRACT CONSTRUCTION OF “PHYSICAL” AND “DREAM” SPACES THROUGH THINGS/OBJECTS IN THE SELECTED WORKS OF GEORGES PEREC AND ORHAN PAMUK Özmen, Müge M.Arch., Department of Architecture Supervisor: Assist.
    [Show full text]
  • How Stories Relate to Places? Orhan Pamuk's
    16 How stories relate to places? Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence as literary tourism1 Marie-Laure Ryan Introduction Literally implementing the title of the present volume – Locating Imagination – a sign at a busy intersection in Istanbul that reads “Pamuk, Kemal” points towards a museum created by Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish Nobel prize–winning author, and devoted to a novel whose hero, Kemal, is a product of Pamuk’s imagination. There are many museums in the world that commemorate the life and work of real authors, and there are some fictional or legendary characters who inspired museums (Don Quixote, Sherlock Holmes, William Tell),2 but Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence is unique among literary museums and consequently as a target of literary tourism in that it does not fit into either category. It was not conceived as a collection of Pamuk memorabilia but as a companion piece to a novel of the same name, and, unlike the afore- mentioned characters, the hero of the novel is not a popular transfictional character who appears in many texts and media. In this chapter, I will discuss the museum in terms of its relation to the plot of novel, actual subject matter (for “innocence” is a subjective characterization of that which it is about), and type of experience that it offers to visitors. But before I address these questions, I will explore the foundations of literary tourism ( Bulson, 2009; Reijnders, 2015 ) by asking how stories relate to space, what attracts fans of fictional stories to real-world locations, and how narrative theory can be made to account for such fan behaviour, which goes against much of the teachings of the schools of literary theory that dominated academia in the second half of the 20th century, from new criticism to deconstruction.
    [Show full text]
  • The Museum of Innocence: Cities and Their Authors Yeşim Kartaler*
    03 2012 www.camoc.icom.museum Orhan Pamuk and his museum. Photo: Refik Anadol & Innocence Foundation The Museum of Innocence: Cities and Their Authors Yeşim Kartaler* “It was knowing that all these things, saturated with Whether seen through the eyes of a child or of a memories of people who had once walked the streets of narrator in pursuit of an everyday object, the city is Istanbul, and lived in its houses, and were now mostly an indispensable element of Pamuk’s novels. At the dead, would eventually disappear without ever having same time, the novelist’s work traces his own life story, been brought together in a museum, or sorted, or set highlighting its integral connection to the historical flow of within a frame.” the city around him. Orhan Pamuk, The Museum of Innocence In a manner not unlike Pamuk’s stories, contemporary Some writers have always been identified with particular city museums connect the personal stories of their cities: Dickens and London, Dostoevsky and St. visitors to the wider history of their community--helping Petersburg, Joyce and Dublin, Kafka and Prague. them to become, in a sense, the actual owners of the To this list, in more recent years, must be added the city. It seems particularly appropriate, then, that Pamuk name of Orhan Pamuk, the great chronicler of modern has conceived of a project that draws on the capabilities Istanbul. of the museum and of the novel. * Museologist, freelance researcher CONTENTS IN THIS ISSUE 01 - The Museum of Innocence 09 - Lisbon International Workshop 03 - From the CAMOC Chair 10 - CAMOC Registration Announcement 04 - BERLINmakers ‘n’ shakers 11 - CAMOC Meeting Tentative Programme 06 - Seizing the Olympic Opportunity 15 - Conference Alert 07 - A Match at the Museum? 17 - Application for the 2013 Luigi Micheletti Award 08 - A seminar in Trento 1 Museum of Innocence as a Museum Although the events of the novel begin in 1975, its flashbacks and memories make it possible for the reader to trace life in Istanbul as far back as 1950.
    [Show full text]
  • Williams 1 the Museum of Innocence Is a Museum in the Broadest Sense
    Williams 1 The Museum of Innocence is a museum in the broadest sense of the term. It follows the intricacies associated with staging and exhibition of the objects it holds onto its display which further contributes to how visitors engage with the artefacts leading up to the construction of a specific aura within the space of the museum. However, what makes The Museum of Innocence rather peculiar is it’s fictional yet authentic foundation i.e it’s a fictional tale come to life, in a tangible form from the tale that was published before the physical construction of the museum. Orhan Pamuk in his text, The Museum of Innocence marks the beginning of its curation through the method of life writing on Kemal's experience with and of Füsun in a narrative form. While many researchers have analysed the themes that surround the literary text, there are no prior studies regarding the Museum and its semiotic relation with its text. The paper will provide an analysis of the different facets covered by the museum as it is represented in the primary text i.e The Museum of Innocence, the novel and the secondary text i.e The Innocence of Objects, both by Orhan Pamuk which further contributes to its variation from our traditional and pre-existing understanding of museums all over the world. The following paper will deploy theories under the larger purview of Poststructuralism and Postmodernism. My primary aim is to highlight how The Museum of Innocence challenges the conventional understanding of a museum as a space of authenticity and more importantly reinstates that no definition or fact is absolute by widening the boundaries of how emerging museums should be formed and engaged with.
    [Show full text]
  • A Late Modern State of Mind the Cityscape of Istanbul and Orhan Pamuk’S Authorship
    A Late Modern State of Mind The cityscape of Istanbul and Orhan Pamuk’s authorship BJÖRN MAGNUSSON STAAF And as my mostly uninspired teachers at the Technical University possessed the souls of engineers, had no sense to play and took no creative pleasure in architecture, their classes began to seem a waste of time, distractions from the things I really should be doing, the ‘truer’ life that I thought I should be living … the Pera neighbourhoods so masterfully built by Armenians that were still standing – these were the places I now began to explore. Sometimes I would go straight from the Architectural Faculty to Taksim, board any bus, and go wherever my fancy or my feet happened to take me: the mean, narrow streets of Kasımpaşa; or Balat, which on my first visit looked fake, like a film set; the old Greek and Jewish neighbourhoods that new immigrants and poverty had changed beyond recognition; the very Muslim, very bright back streets of Üsküdar.1 Modernism – Architecture – Memories – Novels The modernist ideals of the 20th century are often associated with an instrumental form of rationalism that took a clear expression in architecture. The designs of modernist architecture and city planning often strived after perceived rational functions and sought to distance themselves from historical tradition. The ideal of the modernistic architect was to be an engineer, instead of a historian or an artist.2 It is as least this understanding of modernism that Orhan Pamuk conveys in İstanbul: Hatıralar ve Şehir (Istanbul: Memories and the City, 2005). The essayistic, semi-autobiographical novel can be understood as an eloquent condemnation of the modernistic principles and their consequences for Istanbul as a city.
    [Show full text]
  • Orhan Pamuk and Vladimir Nabokov on Dostoevskii1 Neil Cornwell
    Orhan Pamuk and Vladimir Nabokov on Dostoevskii1 Neil Cornwell Orhan Pamuk’s writing, his fiction and non-fiction, is not by any means short of references, allusions, and often tributes to other writers. Prominent among such literary foils or mentors are both Dostoevskii and Nabokov.2 The present chapter will concentrate first on surveying Dostoevskii’s role in this respect, before proceeding to a discussion of Nabokov, in order to initiate certain comparisons between the attitudes struck by Pamuk and Nabokov towards Dostoevskii.3 Pamuk and Dostoevskii Pamuk’s activities as a collector of books, and other objects, ‘in the early days’ (referring to his formative period of around 1972), he told himself (and much later us, in his memoir), would eventually ‘all form part of a great enterprise - a painting or a series of paintings or a novel like those I was then reading by Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and Mann’ (Istanbul, 319).4 And, indeed, we are also told: ‘[Pamuk’s] early untranslated novels, Cevdet Bey and His Sons (1982) and The Quiet House (1983), were family sagas, modelled on Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Thomas Mann’.5 Mann is another author (along with Dostoevskii) to whom Pamuk, unlike Vladimir Nabokov, wants to return ‘again and again’ (see Pamuk’s essay volume, Other Colours, 3). In addition to Tolstoi, an author much admired by both Pamuk and Nabokov is Flaubert. Other Russian writers to make appearances in Pamuk’s works include Turgenev and Pushkin, for instance in the novel Snow (2002).6 Demons (or The Devils [Áåñû]) is referred to as The Possessed in The Black Book (1990, probably Pamuk’s major novel), in which its plot is said to be ‘replicated […] down to the last detail’ in the carrying out of a political murder (Black Book, 244).
    [Show full text]
  • Fictional Displacements: an Analysis of Three Texts by Orhan Pamuk
    Fictional Displacements: An Analysis of Three Texts by Orhan Pamuk Hande Gurses A Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the PhD Degree at UCL June 2012 I, Hande Gurses confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 To my parents Didem & Haluk Gurses 3 Abstract This study aims to discuss the structural and contextual configuration of three books by Orhan Pamuk: The White Castle, My Name is Red and Istanbul: Memories of a City. The central line of enquiry will be the possibility of representing identity as the attempt to capture the elements that make the ‘self’ what it is. Without limiting my analysis to an individual or national definition of identity, I will argue that Pamuk, writing through the various metaphysical binaries including self/other, East/West, word/image, reality/fiction, and original/imitation, offers an alternative view of identity resulting from the definition of representation as différance. I will argue that within the framework of Pamuk’s work representation, far from offering a comforting resolution, is a space governed by ambivalence that results from the fluctuations of meaning. Representation, for Pamuk, is only possible as a process of constant displacement that enables meaning through difference and deferral. Accordingly the representation of identity is no longer limited to the binaries of the metaphysical tradition, which operate within firm boundaries, but manifests itself in constant fluctuation as ambivalence. Within this framework I will suggest that Pamuk’s works operate in that space of ambivalence, undermining the firm grounds of metaphysics by perpetually displacing any possibility of closure.
    [Show full text]
  • Museum of Fictions: Fabrication of Authenticity and Institutional Critique in Imaginary Museums
    Museum of Fictions: Fabrication of Authenticity and Institutional Critique in Imaginary Museums MA Museum Studies Thesis by Jean Carlo Medina Zavala Universiteit van Amsterdam 2019 “We accept reality so readily - perhaps because we sense that nothing is real.” -Jorge Luis Borges, The Aleph Museum of Fictions: Fabrication of Authenticity and Institutional Critique in Imaginary Museums _______________________________________________________________________ MA Museum Studies Thesis Jean Carlo Medina Zavala University of Amsterdam UvA ID: 11607564 Supervisor: Mirjam Hoijtink Second Reader: Christa-Maria Lerm-Hayes Submission date: January 31, 2019 Word Count: 20’623 _______________________________________________________________________ Abstract: Imaginary museums abound in the world, stemming from novels, Gilms, and conjecture. Amongst these, however, are cases of museums that arose from Gictional sources and eventually materialized into real, tangible institutions. These ‘museums of Gictions’ inconspicuously present apocryphal collections through carefully constructed yet ictive narratives, often attempting to engage audiences in their play of make-believe. How do imaginary museums relate to real museums in their fabrication of authenticity? Furthermore, to what extent are imaginary museums successful as a form of institutional critique, and challenging narrative (re)presentations? Through a detailed analysis of three recent museums of Gictions, this thesis aims to encourage a reconsideration of imaginary museums as helpful tools in challenging
    [Show full text]
  • Orhan Pamuk Interweaves Objects and Remembrance in His Novels
    12/12/2017 Orhan Pamuk strings together objects and memory in his Museum of Innocence - The Hindu THE LEAD BOOKS Are memory and beauty different? Orhan Pamuk interweaves objects and remembrance in his novels Mohamed Shafeeq Karinkurayil DECEMBER 09, 2017 16:00 IST UPDATED: DECEMBER 08, 2017 12:25 IST Nowhere does Orhan Pamuk’s genius as chronicler of Istanbul come through more tenderly than in the city’s Museum of Innocence Getting off at Şişhane metro station in Istanbul and asking for the Museum of Innocence draws blank looks, even when you call it by its Turkish name Masumiyet Müzesi, and even though this metro station is supposed to be the closest to it. And it is 10 minutes and many people later that I find someone who knows it. I am to take a right turn to a downward slope and go down an endless looking flight of steps. I soon pass a modest church with a crowd of expectant young women and men outside its closed doors. The path gets narrower, takes a curve on a flat landing, and opens further below. Not narrow any more. I soon cross the Italian Embassy on my right as I climb further down and reach an intersection in an arty neighbourhood. The museum is a few steps to the left, and I have to go around the corner for the entry door. http://www.thehindu.com/books/are-memory-and-beauty-different-orhan-pamuk-interweaves-objects-and-remembrance-in-his-novels/article21296251.… 1/9 12/12/2017 Orhan Pamuk strings together objects and memory in his Museum of Innocence - The Hindu I am in Istanbul for a day and Masumiyet Müzesi is on top of my list.
    [Show full text]
  • A Study of the Depiction of History, Politics and Culture in the Novels of Orhan Pamuk
    A STUDY OF THE DEPICTION OF HISTORY, POLITICS AND CULTURE IN THE NOVELS OF ORHAN PAMUK Minor Research Project Submitted to UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION WRO, PUNE By Dr Rajendra R. Thorat M.A., M. Phil., Ph.D. Venutai Chavan College, KARAD 415 124, Dist. Satara Maharashtra State September,2017 Acknowledgement At the beginning I extend my sincere thanks to University Grants Commission, Western Regional Office, Pune for giving me an opportunity to investigate the works of the Orhan Pamuk. I am also obliged to the Chairmanof Shri Shivaji Shikshan Sanstha, Karad, Hon. Shri Balasaheb Patil, Hon. Prakashrao Patil, the General Secretary of the Sanstha and other members of the Management for encouraging me to pursue my project work. Thanks are also due to Prin. B. N. Kalekar and Dr P. B. Chaugule for their full support and cooperation in the pursuit of this research. This study is possible because of inspiration and help rendered to me by my well wishers and friends like Dr. Satish Ghatge, Dr.Ujjvala Tathe, Prof. Dr. Shivaji Sargar. I must thank all my senior colleagues in the College P. M. Chavan, Dr. R. A. Kengar ,T. S. Bangar, Dr. N.A. Patil, Dr. S.R. Sarode, Sou. M. A. Shinde, Sou. S. P. Patil and all others who were supportive in my endeavor. I must express a deep sense of gratitude to the librarians of University of Goa, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, IACIS (Formerly ASRC), Hyderabad, Central University, Hyderabad, NMU, Jalgaon, Shivaji University, Kolhapur. My special thanks are to the librarian and support staff of Venutai Chavan College, Karad.
    [Show full text]
  • Cahier+Herne+English.Pdf (286.2Kb)
    1 Bernt Brendemoen (Oslo University): THE RECEPTION OF ORHAN PAMUK IN NORWAY In the morning of October 12, 2006, I got a telephone call from the Norwegian publishing house Gyldendal, which has published all Orhan Pamuk’s novels (I had by then translated three of them) and was asked to watch the TV news at noon, and to stay available for the rest of the day. At noon, Horace Engdahl, the head of the Swedish Academy, eventually appeared on the news and announced that the Nobel prize of literature was awarded to Orhan Pamuk, who, as he said, “in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures.” I was not completely surprised, not only because of the call from the publisher, but also because OP had been the favourite candidate of the Norwegian and Swedish press. I was filled with an utmost joy because I thought Orhan deserved the prize so much. I was the called by the biggest Norwegian TV station and gave an interview there, and then hurried home again in order to check out the reactions in Turkey. To my great surprise and disappointment, however, most of the Turkish reactions I could find on the Internet were negative. Nobody expressed any joy or pride; quite on the contrary, some writers (I will not name them; their statements are still on YouTube) even expressed the thought that the prize rather should have been given to themselves (or to Yaşar Kemal), since they were much better writers than OP.
    [Show full text]
  • The Museum of Innocence, Productive Nostalgia and Experiencing History in the Museum of the Future
    THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE, PRODUCTIVE NOSTALGIA AND EXPERIENCING HISTORY IN THE MUSEUM OF THE FUTURE Eva Goth Student number: 10245545 E-mail: [email protected] First supervisor: Mr. dr. I.A.M. Saloul Second supervisor: Mrs. dr. M.H.E. Hoijtink Masters Thesis MA Museum Studies Universiteit van Amsterdam 19th of May 2015 Word count: 20.753 CONTENTS ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................................3 INTRODUCTION – THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE ........................................................................................4 ONE – FICTION VS. REALITY IN LITERATURE AND THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE .................................................. 10 THE SEPARATION BETWEEN FICTION AND REALITY AND LOSING THE SELF ........................................................ 10 FICTION ENTERING REALITY AND VICE VERSA IN THE BOOK ........................................................................... 11 FICTION ENTERING REALITY AND VICE VERSA IN THE MUSEUM ...................................................................... 13 TURKEY’S HISTORY AND ITS ROLE IN THE STORY AND THE MUSEUM ............................................................... 15 THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE IS BOTH A STORY AND A HISTORY ................................................................... 19 TWO – NOSTALGIA INSTEAD OF HISTORY IN THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE ....................................................... 22 THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE AS A HISTORICAL MUSEUM..........................................................................
    [Show full text]