A Conversation with Orhan Pamuk

Thursday, October 15

Time: 1:30pm - 3.30pm

Location: Faculty House,

Columbia University

The Ottoman and Turkish Studies Seminar is pleased to announce the first Ottoman and Turkish Seminar of the semester. 

Our speaker will be Orhan Pamuk who will be discussing his latest novel.

Mevlut Karatas, the novel's hero, is a street vendor who sells boza, a traditional Turkish beverage. The novel follows the love story between Mevlut and his girlfriend whom he wrote letters for three years, as well as Mevlut's life in the streets of Istanbul throughout a period that spans over four decades, from 1969 to 2012, during which Mevlut works in a range of different jobs by day and sells boza during winter nights. Throughout these decades, Mevlut witnesses the various transformations the city, the people and Turkey in general undergo. All the while, Mevlut often wonders what the source of this "strangeness" in his mind is - a strangeness that makes him different from all the others.

Please RSVP at your earliest convenience to zaa2117@columbia.edu if you plan to attend.

This event is sponsored by the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Seminar, Columbia University.