UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Capitalizing Istanbul: reading Orhan Pamuk’s literary cityscape Almas, H.E. Publication date 2011 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Almas, H. E. (2011). Capitalizing Istanbul: reading Orhan Pamuk’s literary cityscape. [Thesis, fully internal, Universiteit van Amsterdam]. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:23 Feb 2023 Capitalizing Istanbul: Reading Orhan Pamuk’s Literary Cityscape ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. D.C. van den Boom ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op donderdag 22 September 2011, te12:00 uur door Hacer Esra Almas geboren te Istanbul, Turkije Promotiecommissie Promotor: Prof. dr. M. D. Rosello Overige leden: dr. M. Aydemir prof. dr. D. Doltaş prof. dr. C. P. Lindner prof. dr. A. Rigney Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen To my family; to the one I was born into, and to the one that happened to me over the years II Acknowledgements Writing this thesis on Istanbul, my home city, in Amsterdam involved multiple journeys. Along the path I had the support of inspiring friends, colleagues, and students, and meet inspiring people whose presence enriched my experience of the city and the university. Here I would like to thank some of them. I had the privilege to start my journey as part of the Literary Studies Department and ASCA. For all that, I am grateful to Mireille Rosello, whose research and supervision has been a constant source of inspiration during this study. She not only helped my project find a new home in Amsterdam and funding, but she also encouraged me to explore and discover the different paths it took. In ASCA, I would like to thank Christoph Lindner for his practical and academic advice and for opening up a new avenue for my project. I would also like to extend my thanks to my colleagues in the Literary Studies Department, notably Esther Peeren and Murat Aydemir, who gave full support both in my teaching and in my shift to research later. My work benefited from participating in the ASCA Theory Seminars and the drinks afterwards, the Cities Project, and the Utrecht University Postcolonial Initiative. Dilek Doltaş, Emily Apter, Jale Parla, Maureen Freely, and Sandra Ponzanesi provided valuable insight into my work in its various stages. The rules and regulations of the university have been a pleasure to find out thanks to Ania Dalecki, Eloe Kingma and Jantine van Gogh, who have always been there with their sunny smiles. An important part of my experience was co-organizing the 2009 ASCA mini conference and ASCA 2010 International conference; I would like to thank Erin LaCour, Melanie Schiller and Lara Mazurski for making it work. Niall Martin, Thijs van den Berg, Rob Allen, and Hanneke Stuit were great office-mates, ready to share their work and ideas and to try the cafés around Bungehuis. III My heartfelt thanks go to to Anthony Pavlik for helping me mount my ideas into a full proposal; to Sinan - Zeynep Erbelger and Tuliz Eyüboğlu for their support when changing countries; to Seda Müftügil for being a fellow soul; to Erinç Salor and Canan Maraşlıgil for the best risotto and for making me at home in their house; to Margreet Vermeulen and Marjan Nijborg for always being up for cocktails after work; to Tim Yaczo for being a great flatmate and for cleaning up my work, and to Oğuzhan for the layout. Lara Mazurski has been a true friend and a great colleague, without her my stay in Amsterdam and my work would not be the same. Finally, I would like to express my love and gratitude to Jago Philippens for being there for and with me; and to my parents, my sister Cemile Baştımar, my cousins Sibel-Tülin Almas, Vedat Aybar and my extended family, who have inspired, encouraged and supported me in every step of my life. IV Acknowledgements..............................................................................................................II Contents................................................................................................................................III Introduction...........................................................................................................................1 Literary Capital.................................................................................................................3 World Literature................................................................................................................4 Translation........................................................................................................................6 East-West..........................................................................................................................7 Politics...............................................................................................................................8 Chapters..........................................................................................................................10 Chapter 1 - ‘Bridging’ the East-West Divide: Reading the Pamuk Controversy through Istanbul’s Bridges...............................................................................................................15 Section I - Bridges over Istanbul’s Water(s)................................................................16 Bridge One: Galata Bridge ............................................................................................18 Bridge Two: The Bosphorus Bridge.............................................................................22 Section II - Pamuk as the Bridge...................................................................................28 Bridge One: Pamuk’s Work...........................................................................................28 Bridge Two: The Pamuk Case.......................................................................................33 Conclusion......................................................................................................................39 Chapter 2 - A Labyrinth: The View of the City in The Black Book..................................41 The Labyrinth..................................................................................................................41 The View(er)....................................................................................................................43 The Walker......................................................................................................................50 Urban Odyssey...............................................................................................................53 Labyrinthine Narrative...................................................................................................55 Protean Self ....................................................................................................................60 Conclusion......................................................................................................................63 Chapter 3 - Homelessness, Identity, and the City in Istanbul: Memories and the City 65 Autobiography and Alterity...........................................................................................66 Autobiography and the City..........................................................................................70 Inventing: Self and the City...........................................................................................73 Autobiography through the Other................................................................................78 Homelessness and Identity...........................................................................................83 Conclusion......................................................................................................................89 V Chapter 4 - A Melancholy of My Own: Melancholy of Pamuk’s Istanbul.......................91 Contrapuntal reading.....................................................................................................92 Melancholy......................................................................................................................94 Melancholy in Pamuk’s work ......................................................................................100 Hüzün: the Names of Melancholy in Istanbul............................................................102 Conclusion....................................................................................................................111 Chapter 5 - Bosphorus Mists: The Repository of the City’s Spirit...............................113 London’s fogs...............................................................................................................114 Mist-ifying the Bosphorus...........................................................................................119 Pamuk’s Haze...............................................................................................................124 Pamuk’s Bosphorus.....................................................................................................127 Black-and-White Photographs....................................................................................130 Mist-ifying Istanbul.......................................................................................................135 Conclusion....................................................................................................................138 Chapter 6: Framing My Name Is Red: Reading a Masterpiece.....................................141 Frame 1: Publicity ........................................................................................................143 Frame 2: The Master-Writer.........................................................................................144 Frame 3: IMPAC Citation: a Vantage Point................................................................146 Frame 4: Framing a Murder with Masterpieces.........................................................148 Frame 5: Anachrony.....................................................................................................155 Frame 6: Multiple Voices and Literary Style..............................................................158 Frame 7: Islam..............................................................................................................160 Frame 8: Writing Miniatures........................................................................................164 Conclusion....................................................................................................................166 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................169 Works Cited.......................................................................................................................175 Summary............................................................................................................................191 Nederlandse Samenvatting..............................................................................................193 VI