A person should have two lives, two souls. One for business, the other for pleasure! And one should live in such a way that these two do not mix with each other! They should help each other, but they shouldn't hinder the other! Yes, it will. My life will be like this! I will live!" He yawned, stretching once more, and then got out of the carriage with a fresh vigor that surprised even himself.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in 2006, Orhan Pamuk (1952-), born in Istanbul and still living in Istanbul, is the best-known figure in contemporary Turkish literature and enjoys great popularity worldwide. He originally trained as an architect, but eventually graduated in journalism in 1977. His works have been translated into more than 40 languages, and his novels have won significant literary awards not only in his home country, but also in several Western European countries - including England, France, Germany and Italy. Pamuk, who was selected by The Guardian as one of the twenty-one most significant writers of the 21st century, is also well known in the United States, his novel Snow, which was also published in English in 2004, was ranked by The New York Times as one of the ten best books of the year. In his works, the writer presents Turkey, forced to choose between Europe and Asia, tradition and modernity, in a postmodern style.
Cevdet Bey becomes a rich Turkish merchant at the beginning of the 20th century, when only Christians were involved in business. That is why he feels like a stranger in the world of businessmen in Istanbul, and an outcast among the members of the late Ottoman elite. Still, he continues determinedly on his way: he increases his fortune, buys a house, and marries a noble girl. His dream is a "clockwork" Westernized family, where the main value is togetherness and a peaceful, calm life.
The members of the next generation have to face both the paternal heritage and the society living in the fever of Western reforms, but stubbornly preserving the centuries-old indoctrination. As Europe prepares for another war, they are faced with moral dilemmas that all raise the same question: can Cevdet Bey's dream come true, does a distinctly Turkish version of the civilian world exist, or is it all just an illusion? The answer is not clear even to the grandchildren who grew up in the seething political atmosphere of the 1970s.
Orhan Pamuk's first novel, published in 1982, is a family story spanning three generations. The tableau-like narration emerging from small pieces of a mosaic reveals ordinary snapshots to the readers, yet it sensitively sheds light on the problems that strain Turkish society to this day.