Orahn Pamuk was born in Istanbul in 1952. Since 1974 is dedicated exclusively to the reading. Awarded numerous times with different prestigious awards, in 2008 was awarded the prize Nobel of literature. Read more from CBC, Australia to gain a more clear picture of the situation. The protagonist of snow is Ka, a poet who makes a living as a journalist. The play on words that apparently exists in the Turkish language between the name of the poet and the title of the novel, is lost in translation, but this setback does not influence nor in the plot nor the way of telling the author.
Pamuk introduces us from the outset in a stifling atmosphere corseted, both moral and culturally. The boring lives of the inhabitants of Kars, hometown of the protagonist, mingle with the Islamist fanaticism and oppression of the ruling political class. Using the isolation of the small border town, caused by a heavy snow, Pamuk draw, perhaps without being its priority intention, the dismissal of intellectuals, Turkish in particular and Muslims in general, educated and trained at the Western gates of freedom and permissiveness; men of culture whose work stands on pillars constructed with raw material extracted from their cultures, but whose intellectual solidity it is due to Western influence. When trying to use only the own wickers, appears the sectarianism and a radical approach to any aspect of human thought and expression. We speak of theocratic societies, based on the Muslim religion, whose head thickness has not been able to make progress throughout history, and which has been anchored in the social and political order of the middle ages. Those reflections even-handed and measured of the protagonist, without having to delve into excess, betray a clear stroke of European influence. The story, Pamuk combining memories of the protagonist with the appearance of characters that bring wealth to the construction of a plot with many meanders goes spinning. Sometimes it is surprising behavior or attitudes taken by the characters; and one is a little misleading without knowing if blamed such rarity to the difference of cultural approach or simply to the needs of the plot has been imposing to the author of the novel.
The description of the creative process of the poet Ka seems excellent to me throughout his stay in his hometown. Feels that, without any doubt, Ka must have been a great poet. Pamuk, creating a suffocating atmosphere and a poor and austere landscape, in a strange place for a Western reader, is able to keep us hooked to the story. That’s being a good writer. Safe Creative #0912035058096 original author and source of the article