We're not stupid! We're just poor! And we have a right to insist on this distinction Orhan Pamuk More Quotes by Orhan Pamuk More Quotes From Orhan Pamuk One side of me is very busy paying attention to the details of life, the humanity of people, catching the street voices, the middle-class, upper-middle-class secret lives of Turks. The other side is interested in history and class and gender, trying to get all of society in a very realistic way. Orhan Pamuk melifehistorypeople I consider myself Istanbul's storyteller. My subject matter is my town. I consider it my job to explore the hidden patterns of my city's clandestine corners, its shady, mysterious places, the things I love. Orhan Pamuk cityjobmyselflove When the whole world reads your books, is there any other happiness for a writer? I am happy that my books are read in 57 languages. But I am focused on Istanbul not because of Istanbul but because of humanity. Everyone is the same in the end. Orhan Pamuk i-am-happyi-amhappyhappiness I came across humanity in Istanbul, and all I know about life comes from Istanbul, and definitely, I am writing about Istanbul. I also love the city because I live there, it has formed me, and it's me. Of course it is natural. If somebody lived all his life in Delhi, he will write about Delhi. Orhan Pamuk i-ammelovelife Culture is mix. Culture means a mix of things from other sources. And my town, Istanbul, was this kind of mix. Istanbul, in fact, and my work, is a testimony to the fact that East and West combine cultural gracefully, or sometimes in an anarchic way, came together, and that is what we should search for. Orhan Pamuk togetherworksometimesculture If a writer is to tell his own story - tell it slowly, and as if it were a story about other people - if he is to feel the power of the story rise up inside him, if he is to sit down at a table and patiently give himself over to this art - this craft - he must first have been given some hope. Orhan Pamuk powerhopepeopleart I wanted to tell a romantic and dark side of Ottoman history that was also slightly political, saying to the previous generation of writers, 'Look, I'm interested in Ottoman things, and I'm not afraid of it, and I'm doing something creative.' Orhan Pamuk lookdarkromantichistory I sometimes feel nervous because I give stupid answers to certain pointless questions. It happens in Turkish as much as in English. I speak bad Turkish and utter stupid sentences. Orhan Pamuk feelspeakstupidsometimes I have always thought that the place where you sleep or the place you share with your partner should be separate from the place where you write. The domestic rituals and details somehow kill the imagination. They kill the demon in me. Orhan Pamuk meyouimaginationsleep For me, Westernization is not about consuming fanciful goods; it's about a system of free speech, democracy, egalitarianism and respect for the people's rights and dignity. Orhan Pamuk merespectdemocracypeople Novels are political because in them, we try to identify with people who are not like us. And, in that sense, I like the first-person singular because I have to imitate accurately the voice of someone who is not like me. The third-person singular gives me an authority over a character. Orhan Pamuk mevoicecharacterpeople The hero of the book does long to experience God. But his conception of God is very western. Orhan Pamuk experienceherogodlong These political movements flourish on the margins of Turkish society because of poverty and because of the people's feeling that they are not being represented. Orhan Pamuk feelingpovertysocietypeople
