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Monday, January 29th, 2018
...[A]ny Turk who passionately loves a masterpiece from the West which remains unread by his compatriots begins after a while to believe in all sincerity that not only does he love reading the book, but that he has written it himself.
--The Black Book
posted evening of January 29th, 2018: Respond
➳ More posts about Orhan Pamuk
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Saturday, February third, 2018
when it clicks: Orhan Pamuk is the author who taught me to identify with his narrator! (A lesson which has turned out to be really valuable in general as a way of reading.) This is exactly the story that he's telling about Galip's experience in The Black Book.
posted morning of February third, 2018: Respond
➳ More posts about Readings
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While I am reading The Black Book I'm developing something of an interest in Rumi and by extension in Sufi. Here are a couple of links I've tracked down that seem like worthwhile further reading.
More as I find it.
 Also -- I updated the Pamuk Bibliography with link to an essay by Saniye Çancı Çalışaneller, "Doppelgänger in Orhan Pamuk’s
The Black Book".
posted afternoon of February third, 2018: 3 responses
➳ More posts about Sufi Epics
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Sunday, February 4th, 2018
 It seems clear that the story of Layla and Majnun is understood as an allegory for the believer's unquenchable thirst for God. But I'm having trouble getting this line of meaning out of the story itself... I'm about midway through, and Majnun's friend Nawfal has led his army against Layla's tribe, seeking to capture her and lay waste--
Like lion’s claws the
spears tore breasts and limbs, the arrows drank
the sap of life with wide open beaks like birds of
prey; and proud heroes, heads severed from
trunks, lay down for the sleep of eternity.
Majnun renounces the quest a few pages later but Nawfal is about to go on the attack again, mustering up reserves... and I'm thinking, how the hell does this fit into the allegory? The gore is nice and vivid in an epic-poetry sort of way."Love is Fire and I am Wood" makes no mention of Nawfal, it seems strange to me to ignore such a central character.
Update turns out my confusion was based on a confusion between Nizami's epic romance and the underlying story. (See comments.)
posted morning of February 4th, 2018: 2 responses
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Tuesday, February 13th, 2018
In part II of The Black Book, Galip writes three columns in the style of Jelal and delivers them to Milliyet. Which of the columns that are reprinted in the book are by Galip? Certainly chapter 31, "The Story Goes Through the Looking Glass," is; and I thought chapter 29, "I Turned Out to be the Hero" might be as well. It was fun to read "The Story Goes Through the Looking Glass" this evening right after I had read Victoria Rowe Holbrook's introduction to Love and Beauty, and understand more of the references. I expect I will need to read the book yet another time...
posted evening of February 13th, 2018: Respond
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Monday, February 19th, 2018
Mehmet, Pamuk, Jelal, Galip, me?
posted morning of February 19th, 2018: Respond
➳ More posts about Identification
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Thursday, February 22nd, 2018
They chose for the girl the name of Beauty
The chosen son was named Love unhappy
As time went on, some called Beauty Leyla
Some called her Shirin, and others Azra
Then some gave the name of Majnun to Love
Some called him Vamik, and others Ferhad
--Love and Beauty (305-7)
Is the intended reading that all of these epics are retellings of the same story?
posted evening of February 22nd, 2018: Respond
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