'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'

The following is a telephone interview with Orhan Pamuk immediately following the announcement of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature, October 12, 2006. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief of Nobelprize.org.

Orhan Pamuk: Hello.

Adam Smith: Hello, may I speak to Orhan Pamuk please? Hello?

Orhan Pamuk: Hello.

Adam Smith: Hello, may I speak to Orhan Pamuk please?

Orhan Pamuk: Speaking.

Adam Smith: Oh, my name is Adam Smith and I'm calling from the official website of the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm.

Orhan Pamuk: Yes.

Adam Smith: We have a tradition of recording very short conversations with new Laureates immediately after the announcements.

Orhan Pamuk: OK.

Adam Smith: So, first of all, many, many congratulations on being awarded ...

Orhan Pamuk: Oh, thank you very much. It's such a great honour.

Adam Smith: I gather you're in New York. What were you doing when you received the news?

Orhan Pamuk: Oh, I was sleeping, and thinking that, in a hour, probably they will announce the Nobel Prize, and then someone would maybe tell me who won it. And then I'm thinking, so what am I going to do, what's today's work? And I'm a little bit sleepy. And then the phone call, and then I'm "Oh, it's already half past seven". You know, this is New York and I don't know the light, so I don't feel pretty ... And I answered, and they said I won the Nobel Prize.

Adam Smith: That's an extraordinary phone call to receive. There was an enormous cheer went up at the press conference when they announced the prize.

Orhan Pamuk: Really, of course, that's great, I'm very happy to hear this. This is great.

Adam Smith: We've recorded it on the website so you can, when finally you get off the phone you can go and relive the moment.

Orhan Pamuk: And also I saw so many journalists you know, wanted me to have it, so I'm pleased about that. I'm very pleased about all these details. Thank you very much, sir.

Adam Smith: You're the first ever Turkish writer to be awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature. Does that give the award a special significance for you?


Orhan Pamuk: Well, unfortunately, that makes the thing very precious in Turkey, which is good for Turkey of course, getting this prize, but makes it more extra sensitive and political and it somehow tends to make it as a sort of a burden.

Adam Smith: Yes, because it's been quite a public year for you.

Orhan Pamuk: Yes.

Adam Smith: So I imagine this will add to that. The citation for the award refers particularly to your "quest for the melancholic soul of (your) native city", and there's an extremely long tradition of writing about Istanbul, and in praise of Istanbul. Could you describe briefly what it is about the city that has acted as such a strong draw for people's imagination over the years?

Orhan Pamuk: Well, it was at the edge of Europe, but different. So it was the closest ‘other'. And it was really both close and, in a way, other. Mysterious, strange, uncompromising and totally un-European in ways, although in its spirit there was such a great place for Europe [words unclear].

Adam Smith: And referring to the phrase "melancholic soul", how would you describe Istanbul to those who've never seen it?

Orhan Pamuk: I would say that it's one of the early modern cities where modernity decayed earlier than expected.

For the complete interview, read here.