Bibliofemme News
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12/10/2006
Orhan Pamuk wins Nobel Prize
Orhan Pamuk, the controversial Turkish author has won the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Pamuk recently faced charges in Turkey for "insulting Turkishness". He was accused under Article 301 of the new penal code, which makes insults against the Turkish Republic or "Turkishness" illegal.
The case was dropped after the justice ministry refused to issue a ruling as to whether the charges should stand.
The 54-year-old writer has published six books in English, including My Name Is Red, Snow and The White Castle, a novel set in 17th century Istanbul.
The Swedish Academy, which awards the prestigious prize for literature, said: "In the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city, (Pamuk) has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures."
"Pamuk has said that growing up, he experienced a shift from a traditional Ottoman family environment to a more Western-oriented lifestyle."
"He wrote about this in his first published novel, a family chronicle... which in the spirit of Thomas Mann follows the development of a family over three generations."
"Pamuks international breakthrough came with his third novel, The White Castle. It is structured as an historical novel set in 17th-century Istanbul, but its content is primarily a story about how our ego builds on stories and fictions of different sorts."
"Personality is shown to be a variable construction," the Swedish Academy said.
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