Istanbul: Memories and the City

A shimmering evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of one of the world’s great cities, by its foremost writer. Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul and still lives in the family apartment building where his mother first held him in her arms. His portrait of his city is thus also a self-portrait, refracted by memory and the melancholy–or hüzün– that all Istanbullus share: the sadness that comes of living amid the ruins of a lost empire.With cinematic fluidity, Pamuk moves from his glamorous, unhappy parents to the gorgeous, decrepit mansions overlooking the Bosphorus; from the dawning of his self-consciousness to the writers and painters–both Turkish and foreign–who would shape his consciousness of his city. Like Joyce’s Dublin and Borges’ Buenos Aires, Pamuk’s Istanbul is a triumphant encounter of place and sensibility, beautifully written and immensely moving.

• My Name Is Red
• The Museum of Innocence (Vintage International)
• Snow
• A Strangeness in My Mind: A novel (Vintage International)
• The White Castle: A Novel
• The Bastard of Istanbul
• Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern Istanbul
• Istanbul: City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World
• The Black Book
• Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City