num_pages: 356
description: A shimmering evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of one of the world’s great cities, by its foremost writer. Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul and still lives in the family apartment building where his mother first held him in her arms. His portrait of his city is thus also a self-portrait, refracted by memory and the melancholy–or–hüzün–that all Istanbullus share: the sadness that comes of living amid the ruins of a lost empire. With cinematic fluidity, Pamuk moves from his glamorous, unhappy parents to the gorgeous, decrepit mansions overlooking the Bosphorus; from the dawning of his self-consciousness to the writers and painters–both Turkish and foreign–who would shape his consciousness of his city. Like Joyce’s Dublin and Borges’ Buenos Aires, Pamuk’s Istanbul is a triumphant encounter of place and sensibility, beautifully written and immensely moving.
language: English
title: Istanbul: Memories and the City
titlecomplete: Istanbul: Memories and the City
genres: Biography, Turkish, Nobel Prize, Travel, Turkish Literature, Literature, Autobiography, Nonfiction, History, Memoir
ratings_count: 19539
places: Istanbul
awards: awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: National Book Critics Circle Award
category: Autobiography/Memoir, awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, awardedAt: 1230796800000
name: Metų verstinė knyga
publisher: Vintage International