The White Castle
By Orhan Pamuk
“The White Castle” is the first novel written by Nobel Prize Winner author Orhan Pamuk. This book was also my first Orhan Pamuk book. I have read the English Translation. The narrative within the narrative forms the book and my first feeling was one of intense curiosity. As the narrative developed, I experienced the pleasure of a story well told with great characterization and a very troubling yet highly enlightening theme of self reflection and evaluation.
The novel tells the story of the times when two different cultures were intermingling at the doorway to Europe & Asia,18th century Turkey. The time, place and people were fascinating, interesting and conflicting, characterized by a unique opportunity for interaction between Islamic culture and Christianity. The narrative of a Christian slave put to work with an Islamic Master resembling him, both of them sharing their knowledge, though a bit reluctantly by the slave and eventual swapping of places is illuminating and forms a study in self-reflection. By the time we reach the White Castle with the slave and his master and where the religious biases and superstitions rear their ugly head , leading them to swap places, we are not really sure who has replaced whom. This novel also depicts the role played by inherent weaknesses of civilizations which are unable to assimilate the new experiences coming to them.
The theme of barricading ourselves against anything new, not belonging to our religion, culture, community etc. is universal and we can all relate to it. Also, with growing divisions in today’s world, this idea transcends time, people and places and can be termed as an eternal characteristic of the human civilizations. The only ways to reach across the barriers are compassion, empathy and a healthy dose of curiosity.
I recommend this book not only because it is a good story, written and translated beautifully but also for the timeless narrative of conflict & reconciliation and self-evaluation. In words of Benjamin Franklin, the American Polymath
"There are three things extremely hard: steel,
a diamond, and to know one's self. "
