Istanbul A feeling of a city s memory

Maybe it's because of early spring, the streets and alleys of Istanbul still have the smell of winter, although there is sunlight shining on me, but the light looks a little pale, so that the people and things around have a sense of backlight, in such black and white light, I can feel the situation and atmosphere described by Pamuk in "Istanbul, the memory of a city", it should be like this - a black and white city.

Pamuk's Istanbul is a city struggling to find its own cultural identity in the process of modernization, the glory of the old empire is gone, and the new republic is constantly losing its roots in its native culture in the process of seeking Westernization.

I don't know if Istanbul has found its place now, but walking through the streets of the city, you can always feel the various opposites and intermingling here - it is both traditional and modern: there are Muslim women in plain clothes and headscarves, and trendy women in short skirts and leather boots and dyed their hair in various colors; In the Egyptian market in the old city, the cone-shaped spices tell the story from the Thousand and One Nights, and on Istiklal Avenue opposite the Golden Horn, there is the most exquisite and luxurious shopping center in Europe; Of course, Istanbul is both European and Asian, and is the only city in the world that straddles two continents.

It seems understandable that such a city has been at a loss for what to do in a period of historical transition. With the dissolution of the Ottoman Turkish Empire and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, in the process of Westernization, people began to abandon their original traditions and cultures, but after shattering an old world, a new path is in the end? Some people find solace in nationalism.

In 1955, because of the strife in Cyprus, the Turks in Istanbul smashed and looted all the shops and homes of the Greeks near Istiklal Street, who were descendants of the Greeks who were still called Constantinople in the city. In Pamuk's writing, Istanbul at this time was shrouded in a mood called "melancholy", in which people seemed indifferent to the past and future of their city.

In today's Istanbul, where there is no sense of "sorrow" and confusion, traditional culture and modernization develop in parallel, people of different religions coexist peacefully, and in the Muslim areas of the old city, when it is time to pray, the towers of various mosques will hear loud chanting ...... calling believers to pray

Istanbul is not only geographically but also culturally a mix of East and West.

Compared to Pamuk, Istanbul has always been a city full of imperial relics. The city's unique "sorrow" has long seeped into the body and soul of the young Pamuk. Today, Pamuk, a writer, with his unique sense of history and outstanding talent for depiction, revisits the secret history of his family, unearths the context of the past, and collages the urban life of contemporary Istanbul.

Following his memories of growing up, we can witness his personal lost good times, get to know the history of the city where tradition and modernity coexist, and feel the sentimentality of Turkish civilization.

The book is also an elegy for lost family traditions, and more of a history of the Bosphorus and Istanbul and the strait. The book reflects the struggle between modern civilization and traditional culture that is constantly in decline.

In 2005, the book won the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade and the Washington Post Book of the Year.

Open Istanbul: Memories of a City to discover Orhan Pamuk's memories of growing up, witness his good times when he was lost, learn about the history of Istanbul at the crossroads of East and West, where tradition and modernity coexist, and feel the sentimentality brought by Turkey's ancient civilization.

Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish writer, and Istanbul: Memories of a City is an autobiographical work by Orhan Pamuk. For Pamuk, Istanbul has always been a city full of imperial relics.

The city's unique "sorrow" has long seeped into the body and soul of the young Pamuk. Pamuk revisits his family's secret history with his unique sense of history and outstanding talent for depiction before Natsa to uncover the context of the past and collage the urban life of contemporary Istanbul.

If Pamuk ambushed his imagination and metaphor for Istanbul in his **, then in "Istanbul: Memories of a City", 206 black-and-white images (naughty children, confused teenagers, noisy streets, vicissitudes of the Bosphorus......Make Pamuk's trance and disorientation palpable. Istanbul:

Memories of a City" takes readers back to the origin of Pamuk's writing, and finds the golden key to unlock the mystery of Pamuk's literature - why he wrote and why he became who he is today.

Orhan Pamuk (1952) is one of the most prominent artists in contemporary Europe and a giant of Turkish literature. Born in Istanbul, he majored in architecture at Istanbul University of Technology. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006 and his works have been translated and published in more than 40 languages.

Orhan Pamuk is a writer from Turkey, and for Pamuk, Istanbul is a city full of imperial relics. The city's peculiar "sorrow" has long seeped into the body and soul of the young Pamuk. The book is a record of cultural change that has shaken Turkey – a reflection of the struggle between modern civilization and a traditional culture that is constantly in retreat.

The book is also an elegy for lost family traditions, and more importantly, a history of the Bosphorus and the relationship between Istanbul and the Straits. Istanbul: Memories of a City was awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 2005.

A thousand-year-old city. Istanbul is a thousand-year-old city spanning Europe and Asia through two empires, and its blend of conflicts has risen and fallen, causing pain in Pamuk's skin. Istanbul gives Pamuk a unique sense of history.

Pamuk revisits the secret history of the family with a unique spirituality, and uses his talent for depiction to unearth the past in the context of the secret family history, collaging the urban life of contemporary Istanbul.

The creative process. When Pamuk started writing the book, he was on the verge of a depression outburst. At that time, his life was in a crisis because of many things; Divorce, father's death, career problems, this problem, that problem, everything is bad.

If Pamuk is weak, he will definitely get depression. Orhan Pamuk insisted on taking a cold shower every day after waking up in the morning to calm and calm his mind, and then reminisced and wrote in an effort to write perfectly.

Orhan Pamuk's family was unhappy with the rent for Istanbul: Memories of a City, especially with Pamuk's brother. Pamuk said that because of the writing, publication of Istanbul:

Memories of a City" book, he lost his brother. Pamuk also admits that the book also hurt his mother's feelings.

The work of printmaker Merlin is one of the sources of inspiration for Pamun Kinker. Pamuk devotes an entire chapter to the Western artist Merlin, who made prints of Constantinople in the nineteenth century, in Istanbul: Memories of a City.