Nobel laureate Pamuk's early novel, 'The White Castle,' worth reading

By C. D Clawson

November 6, 2006 | Orhan Pamuk's The White Castle recounts the story of two men -- one Italian, the other Turkish -- as they advise a young sultan and solve the problems of an ailing Islamic empire. Pamuk's reputation as this year's Nobel laureate for literature and master of historical fiction was initially intimidating. Works by Nobel laureates are traditionally stuffy and overly challenging, but I soon found, as I eased into this novel, that it was surprisingly simplistic in nature.

The White Castle doesn't demand too much of the reader's time and thought, and isn't clouded by excessive description or by flowery language. Anyone with a curiosity of Middle Eastern fiction should enjoy this quick read of 116 pages.

In the opening chapter, Pamuk establishes his unnamed narrator as a Venetian scholar uprooted from his life as an engineer. His life changes completely when he is kidnapped from a ship in the Mediterranean, then imprisoned and enslaved in 17th Century Istanbul -- the gateway to the Middle East. Throughout the novel, the fish-out-of-water narrator examines his life both as a Westerner and a Christian in this Islamic society.

The book's nature is far more philosophical than visual, which is both its strength and its pitfall. Soon after his capture, the narrator meets Hoja, an impatient and influential Turkish scholar who bears a striking resemblance to the narrator. Pamuk illustrates how the two characters instantly become curious of one another: "The resemblance between myself and the man who entered the room was incredible! It was me there... for that first instant this was what I thought."

Making Hoja the narrator's double gives the book its psychological edge. Hoja and the narrator, through resemblance alone, form an antagonistic and contrasting relationship at the core of the novel. Pamuk masterfully illustrates the evolution in this relationship between Hoja and the narrator; however, this is done at the cost of the novel's pace.

Pamuk uses this relationship to explore the intricate relationship between East and West and an ancient world struggling to modernize. He weaves together thematic threads of identity, memory, domination to form this original and philosophical work of fiction. As the work progresses, a cycle of domination and superiority emerges. Initially, the two characters' identities mix and separate like oil and water. As Pamuk explores memory and reality, Hoja and the narrator explore each others' minds and worlds, which slowly merge.

Reading The White Castle, it becomes apparent why Pamuk has a reputation for controversy in his native Turkey. Pamuk examines Hoja's (or rather the East's) quick temper, closed nature, and jealousy towards Western culture and contrasts it with the narrator's Western rationalism, despair, and curiosity. This critical view of Eastern culture outrages some in the Islamic world, but offers a rich explanation of the East's relationship with the West. As the two characters advise the young sultan, Eastern mysticism and Western rationalism are blended to answer the empire's various problems from an outbreak of bubonic plague to the Ottoman invasion of Eastern Europe.

If the book requires one thing, however, it's patience. The book's philosophic emphasis weakens the narrative aspects of pace and detail while focusing more on thought. Pamuk's page-long paragraphs and philosophical tangents on identity and sin require a bit more effort on the part of the reader. Written dialogue is sparse, and the pace of the novel is slowed as entire conversations are reduced to a few paragraphs.

Reading The White Castle may not present the most vivid picture of Istanbul or even of Islam, but when examined more closely, the true purpose (and power) of the work becomes clear as the two main characters' relationship evolves. The reward comes in the final pages when everything is made clear. Pamuk reveals an underlying set of well-constructed paradoxes as the book comes to its end.

The White Castle is one of Pamuk's earliest novels and the first to be translated into English. This quick read should appeal to anyone ready for philosophical pondering and is an excellent opportunity to read a Nobel-quality novel examining relationships between East and West, and a valuable first read for anyone curious or unfamiliar with the world of Middle Eastern literature.

NW
RB