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De vrouw met het rode haar
Een puttengraver en zijn jonge leerling hebben de opdracht gekregen om water te vinden op een droge vlakte in de buurt van Istanbul. Terwijl ze afzien in de zomerse hitte ontstaat er een hechte band tussen de oudere man en de jongen, wiens vader verdween nadat hij gearresteerd werd voor politiek-subversieve activiteiten. De twee leren op elkaar te vertrouwen en vertellen verhalen om de tijd te doden. Maar dan stuit de jongen op een avond in een nabijgelegen dorpje waar ze proviand kopen op een afleiding die hij niet kan weerstaan: een roodharige vrouw, lid van een rondreizend theatergezelschap. De fascinatie lijkt wederzijds en zijn wildste dromen worden bewaarheid, maar tijdens zijn afwezigheid wordt de oude puttengraver getroffen door een tragische gebeurtenis.
De vrouw met het rode haar is een verleidelijke roman over familie en romantiek, over het Oosten en het Westen, en over traditie en de moderne wereld, geschreven door een van de grootste vertellers van onze tijd.
De vrouw met het rode haar is een verleidelijke roman over familie en romantiek, over het Oosten en het Westen, en over traditie en de moderne wereld, geschreven door een van de grootste vertellers van onze tijd.
287 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2016
About the author
Orhan Pamuk
109 books9,928 followersFerit Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic, and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, he has sold over 13 million books in 63 languages, making him the country's best-selling writer.
Pamuk's novels include Silent House, The White Castle, The Black Book, The New Life, My Name Is Red and Snow. He is the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he teaches writing and comparative literature. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2018.
Of partial Circassian descent and born in Istanbul, Pamuk is the first Turkish Nobel laureate. He is also the recipient of numerous other literary awards. My Name Is Red won the 2002 Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, 2002 Premio Grinzane Cavour and 2003 International Dublin Literary Award.
The European Writers' Parliament came about as a result of a joint proposal by Pamuk and José Saramago. Pamuk's willingness to write books about contentious historical and political events put him at risk of censure in his homeland. In 2005, a lawyer sued him over a statement acknowledging the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. Pamuk said his intention had been to highlight issues of freedom of speech in Turkey. The court initially declined to hear the case, but in 2011 Pamuk was ordered to pay 6,000 liras in compensation for having insulted the plaintiffs' honor.
Pamuk's novels include Silent House, The White Castle, The Black Book, The New Life, My Name Is Red and Snow. He is the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he teaches writing and comparative literature. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2018.
Of partial Circassian descent and born in Istanbul, Pamuk is the first Turkish Nobel laureate. He is also the recipient of numerous other literary awards. My Name Is Red won the 2002 Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, 2002 Premio Grinzane Cavour and 2003 International Dublin Literary Award.
The European Writers' Parliament came about as a result of a joint proposal by Pamuk and José Saramago. Pamuk's willingness to write books about contentious historical and political events put him at risk of censure in his homeland. In 2005, a lawyer sued him over a statement acknowledging the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. Pamuk said his intention had been to highlight issues of freedom of speech in Turkey. The court initially declined to hear the case, but in 2011 Pamuk was ordered to pay 6,000 liras in compensation for having insulted the plaintiffs' honor.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,999 reviews
August 31, 2017
DIG and RUN!!!!!! .......
I became transfixed by thoughts, questions, opinions, and judgments about Cem --- taking the train back home to Istanbul when he did... at the end of Part I of this story.
There are three parts to this novel. Each are different-- related & connected, but different. The novel comes together brilliantly at the end..... but this is one twisted story!!!! My goodness!
A familiar lovelorn pursuit, took me back to "The Museum of Innocence". Similar to "The Museum of Innocence", I was expecting deluded hopes for 16 year old Cem, but the bigger surprise, was when things took another path. The Red-Haired Woman - much older -reciprocates in an evening of sexual escapades.
Cem is a well- digger apprentice for a *MASTER* Mahmut on the outskirts of Istanbul. The 'master' is domineering, very strict, and expects Cem to obey his orders - DO AS HE SAYS!!
Often - in Orhan Pamuk's books - there comes a moment when it feels like 'nails-on-the-chalkboard' for me: DIGGING & DIGGING & DIGGING......if you've 'ever' had fantasies about being a well digger...
haha -- this book should end that fantasy!
But.... all digging and work without a little fun for a 16 year old boy - would be a killer -- so-- Cem finds 'enjoyment' resting under his favorite walnut tree - and visiting the traveling "Tent of Morality Tales", with lust to watch The Red Haired Woman perform.
However- even though Cem was melting in 'sexual- love- heaven' from having lost his virginity....
an accident at work sends Cem skipping town.... he leaves his Master at the bottom of the well whom he presumes to be dead. But is he?
Dig and Run
Back in Istanbul, we get a modern experience of the city, bookstores, cafés, the University which Cem becomes a geology student...and gets married.
Thirty years later -- his incomplete life comes back for a visit....
TWISTED -- twisted twisted twisted...... and very enjoyable!!!
4.5.....I took a 1/2 mark off.... because if I had to keep experiencing the DIGGING, I thought I was going to die of thirst and or scream!
I became transfixed by thoughts, questions, opinions, and judgments about Cem --- taking the train back home to Istanbul when he did... at the end of Part I of this story.
There are three parts to this novel. Each are different-- related & connected, but different. The novel comes together brilliantly at the end..... but this is one twisted story!!!! My goodness!
A familiar lovelorn pursuit, took me back to "The Museum of Innocence". Similar to "The Museum of Innocence", I was expecting deluded hopes for 16 year old Cem, but the bigger surprise, was when things took another path. The Red-Haired Woman - much older -reciprocates in an evening of sexual escapades.
Cem is a well- digger apprentice for a *MASTER* Mahmut on the outskirts of Istanbul. The 'master' is domineering, very strict, and expects Cem to obey his orders - DO AS HE SAYS!!
Often - in Orhan Pamuk's books - there comes a moment when it feels like 'nails-on-the-chalkboard' for me: DIGGING & DIGGING & DIGGING......if you've 'ever' had fantasies about being a well digger...
haha -- this book should end that fantasy!
But.... all digging and work without a little fun for a 16 year old boy - would be a killer -- so-- Cem finds 'enjoyment' resting under his favorite walnut tree - and visiting the traveling "Tent of Morality Tales", with lust to watch The Red Haired Woman perform.
However- even though Cem was melting in 'sexual- love- heaven' from having lost his virginity....
an accident at work sends Cem skipping town.... he leaves his Master at the bottom of the well whom he presumes to be dead. But is he?
Dig and Run
Back in Istanbul, we get a modern experience of the city, bookstores, cafés, the University which Cem becomes a geology student...and gets married.
Thirty years later -- his incomplete life comes back for a visit....
TWISTED -- twisted twisted twisted...... and very enjoyable!!!
4.5.....I took a 1/2 mark off.... because if I had to keep experiencing the DIGGING, I thought I was going to die of thirst and or scream!
December 9, 2018
علیه قصه ها
۱.
زمانی با برادرم راجع به تاریخ اسلام و به قدرت رسیدن عباسیان صحبت می کردیم. قبل از این که عباسیان به قدرت برسند، بین مردم احادیثی از پیامبر دهان به دهان می شد که از خراسان گروهی با پرچم های سیاه ظهور خواهند کرد و حکومت ظلم و جور را از بین خواهند برد. عباسیان از این موقعیت استفاده کردند و آغاز قیام خود را در خراسان، و عل��مت خود را پرچم سیاه قرار دادند. به این ترتیب مردم با این تصور که عباسیان همان ها هستند که در احادیث پیش بینی شده بود، به سرعت اطرافشان را گرفتند تا حکومت امویان را براندازند و همین سبب پیروزی عباسیان شد. با برادرم صحبت می کردیم که آیا اگر کسی به مردم نگفته بود سپاهیانی سیاهجامه منجی آن ها خواهند بود، عباسیان باز جامهٔ سیاه به تن می کردند؟ آیا اگر در حدیث نیامده بود که منجی از خراسان قیام می کند، باز عباسیان از خراسان قیام می کردند؟ و به طور کلی اگر این واقعه پیش بینی نشده بود، آیا باز هم واقع می شد؟ و به این نتیجه رسیدیم که این خود پیش بینی بود که باعث تحقق خودش شده بود. مثل آن که من به کسی که روی طناب راه می رود مدام بگویم: الان می افتی، و او به خاطر همین حرف من اعتماد به نفسش از بین برود و بیفتد، و من بگویم: دیدی گفتم الان می افتی؟
۲.
مشابه این اتفاق در داستان ادیپوس شهریار می افتد. پیشگویی به پدر ادیپوس می گوید: فرزندی که از تو به دنیا می آید، تو را خواهد کشت و با مادرش همبستر خواهد شد. همین پیشگویی سبب می شود که پد�� ادیپوس، او را به یکی از مأمورانش بسپرد تا بکشد، و مأمور پسر را از سر دلرحمی به شهری دور ببرد و به کسی بسپارد تا بزرگ کند. ادیپوس وقتی بزرگ می شود، به طریقی از پیشگویی ای که در حقش شده آگاه می شود: می فهمد که قرار است پدرش را بکشد و با مادرش همبستر شود. در نتیجه، شهر خود را ترک می کند مبادا کسی که تصور می کند پدرش است را بکشد، و به شهری می آید که پدر واقعی اش آن جاست. در راه پدر واقعی اش را می بیند، با او نزاع می کند و او را می کشد. اگر پدر ادیپوس از پیشگویی مطلع نمی شد، هرگز قصد کشتن پسر خود را نمی کرد و تمام این اتفاقات رخ نمی داد. همین طور اگر خود ادیپوس از سرنوشتش مطلع نبود، در شهر خودش می ماند و هرگز پدر واقعی خودش را نمی کشت. در حقیقت این آگاهی از پیشگویی بود که باعث شده بود همه ناخواسته کاری کنند که پیشگویی محقق شود.
۳.
۴.
آگاهی از سرنوشت است که باعث تحقق سرنوشت می شود. چنان که پسر جِم وقتی سر چاه با پدرش گفتگو می کند، از نیچه نقل قول می کند: «آزادی حقیقی تنها جایی وجود دارد که از سرنوشت و تاریخ خود رها شویم.» تا وقتی از سرنوشت خود آگاهیم، تا وقتی افسانه ها و الگوهای کهن در ذهن و جانمان حک شده، حتی اگر بخواهیم هم نمی توانیم خارج از آن الگوها و افسانه ها فکر کنیم، نمی توانیم به سمت سرنوشت خود نرویم، هر چه هم تلاش کنیم، باز ناخواسته جهان را از دریچهٔ آن الگوها می بینیم و همان قصه ها را در چرخه ای بی پایان مدام و مدام تکرار می کنیم.
۱.
زمانی با برادرم راجع به تاریخ اسلام و به قدرت رسیدن عباسیان صحبت می کردیم. قبل از این که عباسیان به قدرت برسند، بین مردم احادیثی از پیامبر دهان به دهان می شد که از خراسان گروهی با پرچم های سیاه ظهور خواهند کرد و حکومت ظلم و جور را از بین خواهند برد. عباسیان از این موقعیت استفاده کردند و آغاز قیام خود را در خراسان، و عل��مت خود را پرچم سیاه قرار دادند. به این ترتیب مردم با این تصور که عباسیان همان ها هستند که در احادیث پیش بینی شده بود، به سرعت اطرافشان را گرفتند تا حکومت امویان را براندازند و همین سبب پیروزی عباسیان شد. با برادرم صحبت می کردیم که آیا اگر کسی به مردم نگفته بود سپاهیانی سیاهجامه منجی آن ها خواهند بود، عباسیان باز جامهٔ سیاه به تن می کردند؟ آیا اگر در حدیث نیامده بود که منجی از خراسان قیام می کند، باز عباسیان از خراسان قیام می کردند؟ و به طور کلی اگر این واقعه پیش بینی نشده بود، آیا باز هم واقع می شد؟ و به این نتیجه رسیدیم که این خود پیش بینی بود که باعث تحقق خودش شده بود. مثل آن که من به کسی که روی طناب راه می رود مدام بگویم: الان می افتی، و او به خاطر همین حرف من اعتماد به نفسش از بین برود و بیفتد، و من بگویم: دیدی گفتم الان می افتی؟
۲.
مشابه این اتفاق در داستان ادیپوس شهریار می افتد. پیشگویی به پدر ادیپوس می گوید: فرزندی که از تو به دنیا می آید، تو را خواهد کشت و با مادرش همبستر خواهد شد. همین پیشگویی سبب می شود که پد�� ادیپوس، او را به یکی از مأمورانش بسپرد تا بکشد، و مأمور پسر را از سر دلرحمی به شهری دور ببرد و به کسی بسپارد تا بزرگ کند. ادیپوس وقتی بزرگ می شود، به طریقی از پیشگویی ای که در حقش شده آگاه می شود: می فهمد که قرار است پدرش را بکشد و با مادرش همبستر شود. در نتیجه، شهر خود را ترک می کند مبادا کسی که تصور می کند پدرش است را بکشد، و به شهری می آید که پدر واقعی اش آن جاست. در راه پدر واقعی اش را می بیند، با او نزاع می کند و او را می کشد. اگر پدر ادیپوس از پیشگویی مطلع نمی شد، هرگز قصد کشتن پسر خود را نمی کرد و تمام این اتفاقات رخ نمی داد. همین طور اگر خود ادیپوس از سرنوشتش مطلع نبود، در شهر خودش می ماند و هرگز پدر واقعی خودش را نمی کشت. در حقیقت این آگاهی از پیشگویی بود که باعث شده بود همه ناخواسته کاری کنند که پیشگویی محقق شود.
۳.
۴.
آگاهی از سرنوشت است که باعث تحقق سرنوشت می شود. چنان که پسر جِم وقتی سر چاه با پدرش گفتگو می کند، از نیچه نقل قول می کند: «آزادی حقیقی تنها جایی وجود دارد که از سرنوشت و تاریخ خود رها شویم.» تا وقتی از سرنوشت خود آگاهیم، تا وقتی افسانه ها و الگوهای کهن در ذهن و جانمان حک شده، حتی اگر بخواهیم هم نمی توانیم خارج از آن الگوها و افسانه ها فکر کنیم، نمی توانیم به سمت سرنوشت خود نرویم، هر چه هم تلاش کنیم، باز ناخواسته جهان را از دریچهٔ آن الگوها می بینیم و همان قصه ها را در چرخه ای بی پایان مدام و مدام تکرار می کنیم.
August 24, 2017
3.75 stars.
In the late 1980s, I travelled to Turkey with my soon to be husband. We had just finished university, had little money and were in search of adventure. It was certainly an interesting trip and we have often talked about going back to Turkey, but I am also aware that traveling in a country when you don't know the language and have no real means of getting to know people isn't really a great way to get to know a country.
This was my first book by Orhan Pamuk. But I feel that the two days spent reading The Red-Haired Woman gave me a more intimate look at Turkey in the late 1980s than my trip of almost 30 years ago. The narrator of this novel recounts the summer when he was 16 years old, working as an apprentice to a well digger in a small town outside of Istanbul. While getting to know the master well digger, the narrator also becomes fascinated by an older red-haired woman. Move forward thirty years, and the apprentice is a wealthy businessman in a much changed Turkey, but he is not freed from what happened the summer when he was 16 years old. Reading The Red-Haired Woman feels like a rich multi-layered experience. Pamuk delves into Turkey's political situation, mixing in history and mythology. There's also a bit of a mystery and some moral complexity. This wasn't quite a 4 star read because it didn't always hold my attention, but I did mostly enjoy reading it and especially I appreciated the opportunity for what felt like an intimate view of contemporary Turkey. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.
In the late 1980s, I travelled to Turkey with my soon to be husband. We had just finished university, had little money and were in search of adventure. It was certainly an interesting trip and we have often talked about going back to Turkey, but I am also aware that traveling in a country when you don't know the language and have no real means of getting to know people isn't really a great way to get to know a country.
This was my first book by Orhan Pamuk. But I feel that the two days spent reading The Red-Haired Woman gave me a more intimate look at Turkey in the late 1980s than my trip of almost 30 years ago. The narrator of this novel recounts the summer when he was 16 years old, working as an apprentice to a well digger in a small town outside of Istanbul. While getting to know the master well digger, the narrator also becomes fascinated by an older red-haired woman. Move forward thirty years, and the apprentice is a wealthy businessman in a much changed Turkey, but he is not freed from what happened the summer when he was 16 years old. Reading The Red-Haired Woman feels like a rich multi-layered experience. Pamuk delves into Turkey's political situation, mixing in history and mythology. There's also a bit of a mystery and some moral complexity. This wasn't quite a 4 star read because it didn't always hold my attention, but I did mostly enjoy reading it and especially I appreciated the opportunity for what felt like an intimate view of contemporary Turkey. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.
June 19, 2022
رواية تتناول صور متنوعة للوجود الأبوي كمعنى وفكرة
كمعنى للحب والرعاية والأمان أو للإهمال والتحكُم والسلطة
وكفكرة تتخطى حدود الأسرة إلى الحياة العامة والسياسة والحكم
يبدأ الراوي حكايته بالعودة للماضي في ثمانينيات القرن العشرين
ذكريات الطفولة وافتقاد الأب الغائب ومحاولة البحث عن بديل
في علاقة أبوة وعمل وحكي مع مُعلمه الأسطى محمود حفّار الآبار
أجاد باموك في رسم شخصية ومراحل حياة بطل روايته المهندس الجيولوجي
الحائر في فهم علاقاته وتصرفاته والمُثقل بالشعور بالندم والذنب
واهتمامه بالأدب لتوصيف السلطة الأبوية ما بين الاحتياج لها والتمرد عليها
أما المرأة ذات الشعر الأحمر فكانت عشق الشباب الذي اكتوى بناره في النهاية
يربط باموك بين العلاقات المتشابكة للشخصيات وبين القصص والأساطير
ويكتب عن ملامح وجوانب مختلفة لاسطنبول الحاضرة دوما في كتاباته
كمعنى للحب والرعاية والأمان أو للإهمال والتحكُم والسلطة
وكفكرة تتخطى حدود الأسرة إلى الحياة العامة والسياسة والحكم
يبدأ الراوي حكايته بالعودة للماضي في ثمانينيات القرن العشرين
ذكريات الطفولة وافتقاد الأب الغائب ومحاولة البحث عن بديل
في علاقة أبوة وعمل وحكي مع مُعلمه الأسطى محمود حفّار الآبار
أجاد باموك في رسم شخصية ومراحل حياة بطل روايته المهندس الجيولوجي
الحائر في فهم علاقاته وتصرفاته والمُثقل بالشعور بالندم والذنب
واهتمامه بالأدب لتوصيف السلطة الأبوية ما بين الاحتياج لها والتمرد عليها
أما المرأة ذات الشعر الأحمر فكانت عشق الشباب الذي اكتوى بناره في النهاية
يربط باموك بين العلاقات المتشابكة للشخصيات وبين القصص والأساطير
ويكتب عن ملامح وجوانب مختلفة لاسطنبول الحاضرة دوما في كتاباته
April 5, 2016
Orhan Pamuk'a pozitif ayrımcılık yapıldığını düşünüyorum. Bu kitabı başka bir yazar yazsaydı çoğu okurun görüşü farklı olurdu kanısındayım. Kitabın konusu ve anlattığı ilginç ama nasıl anlattığı basit ve zorlama.
Özetle:
Sanki O.P aniden, Oidipus ve Suhrab hikayelerini merkeze almayı düşünen bir roman yazmayı düşünüp bir çırpıda bitirmiş. Aceleci ve özensiz. Kafamda Bir Tuhaflık'da da hissettiğim gibi romanın yurtdışında da okunacağı bilinciyle; bazı kavramları tanıtım ve mesaj kaygısı taşımış. Hikayede çoğu yerde kopukluklar var ve gereksiz reklamvari ögeler bulunuyor. (Google Maps, Hürriyet vs )
*******Spoiler***** olacak ama şunu sormam gerekir.
İletişimin ve imkanların üst düzey olduğu günümüzde, çok zengin bir kimsenin 30 yıl önce öldürüp öldürmediğinden emin olmadığı bir lişi hakkında basit bir soruşturma yapması hiç aklına gelmez mi ? Hele ki bu soru içini sürekli kemiriyorsa..
Özetle:
Sanki O.P aniden, Oidipus ve Suhrab hikayelerini merkeze almayı düşünen bir roman yazmayı düşünüp bir çırpıda bitirmiş. Aceleci ve özensiz. Kafamda Bir Tuhaflık'da da hissettiğim gibi romanın yurtdışında da okunacağı bilinciyle; bazı kavramları tanıtım ve mesaj kaygısı taşımış. Hikayede çoğu yerde kopukluklar var ve gereksiz reklamvari ögeler bulunuyor. (Google Maps, Hürriyet vs )
*******Spoiler***** olacak ama şunu sormam gerekir.
İletişimin ve imkanların üst düzey olduğu günümüzde, çok zengin bir kimsenin 30 yıl önce öldürüp öldürmediğinden emin olmadığı bir lişi hakkında basit bir soruşturma yapması hiç aklına gelmez mi ? Hele ki bu soru içini sürekli kemiriyorsa..
March 14, 2019
This is a difficult one to assess as a whole. It is shorter than most of Pamuk's novels and mostly written in quite simple language. It is partly a story of modern Turkey and its politics, partly a study of father-son relationships and partly a retelling of Oedipus and the Persian legend Rostam and Sohrab. The story falls into three parts, each of which is quite distinct.
The first part is both the simplest and the easiest to like. The narrator Cem tells of a job he took after his father, who was involved in a left wing group, had disappeared and before his university entrance exams. This involved working as an apprentice to a traditional well-digger. The story describes the process of well-digging and Cem's relationship with his master, a father figure who tells him stories. Cem becomes obsessed with the red-haired woman of the title, and eventually discovers that she works in a travelling theatre with her husband. This part comes to a dramatic conclusion .
In the second part the older narrator continues the story and describes his progression, first in marrying, then by running a company that invests in developing new suburbs of Istanbul, one of which is the town in which the first part is set.
The third part is related by the red-haired woman, which made for an interesting change of perspective .
My problems were partly that Pamuk tried to do too much, and lost the wonderful directness of the first part, and partly that in order to retell the two legends, there was rather too much explanation of these before they are shown to prefigure the plot, thus rather destroying any surprise value as they are played out. These are minor quibbles - the book is a very enjoyable read.
The first part is both the simplest and the easiest to like. The narrator Cem tells of a job he took after his father, who was involved in a left wing group, had disappeared and before his university entrance exams. This involved working as an apprentice to a traditional well-digger. The story describes the process of well-digging and Cem's relationship with his master, a father figure who tells him stories. Cem becomes obsessed with the red-haired woman of the title, and eventually discovers that she works in a travelling theatre with her husband. This part comes to a dramatic conclusion .
In the second part the older narrator continues the story and describes his progression, first in marrying, then by running a company that invests in developing new suburbs of Istanbul, one of which is the town in which the first part is set.
The third part is related by the red-haired woman, which made for an interesting change of perspective .
My problems were partly that Pamuk tried to do too much, and lost the wonderful directness of the first part, and partly that in order to retell the two legends, there was rather too much explanation of these before they are shown to prefigure the plot, thus rather destroying any surprise value as they are played out. These are minor quibbles - the book is a very enjoyable read.
October 30, 2019
Life follows myth.
So it does.
The story draws upon two ancient myths. Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, in which the son kills the father (unknowingly) and Ferdawsi’s Rustam and Sohrab taken from The Persian Book of Kings Shahnameh, which is a reversal of Oedipus Rex in that it is the father who kills the son (again, unknowingly) and the string of events that lead to both deaths and the consequences the murderers face for their sui generis crimes. The two contradictory yet complementing myths become the parameters in which the story of the eponymous Red-Haired Woman and her accidental lover is set.
This is by no means a retelling or adaptation of the either myth; quite the contrary. Here the protagonists are very conscious of the power of the afore-mentioned myth, study it, research it, try to steer clear of it, and yet see events unfold in their lives that ultimately come to a point where the myth is no longer an ancient story tucked away in books but being played right before their eyes against their will.
Starting from his previous novel, The Strangeness in My Mind,, there has been a fundamental shift in Pamuk's style and the subject he deals with. He abandoned the elite and middle classes and their identity problems to tell the stories of Turkey’s - in particular Istanbul’s - underprivileged people, the have-nots. In addition to that he chronicled the changes being wrought in Istanbul as a result of unplanned turbo-ubanisation and the fast disappearance of old arts and crafts in the age of consumerist capitalism and its compulsions.
The Red-Haired Woman continues in the same vein. It’s about the forgotten people with their now dispensable arts and now obsolete political rivalries, and the fundamental geographical and social changes that were taking place in his beloved Istanbul during the transitory period of the last quarter of the 20th century and, by extension, in Turkey.
In his previous novel he told the story of a family of rural boza sellers but in this novel it’s about the old and dying art of manual well-digging. I was particularly interested in that part and found it fascinating, perhaps because I could relate to some of it. I am old enough to remember the dying days of well-digging and functioning wells when I was growing up as a kid back in my village; a few hazy memories of the well that watered vegetables in the backyard of our country house before it had to be closed up and filled with earth when elders decided to install electrical water-pumps to draw up groundwater. That was in Pakistan and this story is from Turkey, but it was pretty much the same in both places. The wells haven't totally disappeared. You can still find them in more remote areas around sparsely populated hamlets where old pastoral and agrarian life continues to this day.
Pamuk spends a lot of pages to describe the finer details of well-digging through the story of one Master Mehmut, the master Well-digger, who takes our main protagonist, Cem, the narrator of two-third of the story, as his apprentice. Things happen that cause Cem to abandon his master and run away and begin a new life in the heart of Istanbul. Then we have a fast-paced narrative that covers decades before the turn of events bring him back to confront his old and buried secret. Cem, fully aware of the guiding myths of his life, tries to maneuver away from them but as fate would have it he’s unable to do so.
The book is designed unevenly and I felt the middle part of the story was rushed, as though the writer didn't want it to go beyond 250 printed pages, or couldn't wait to get to the end of the story to reconnect with the events in the early years of Cem. I also felt that Pamuk tried too hard to interpret the myths for us. He kind of over-explained them to the point that we already knew what's going to happen in the end. That was, in my opinion, a weak spot and a big one. All in all it's a good book but not a great one, despite Pamuk's attempt to give it a solid intellectual foundation by incorporating literary myths.
TRANSLATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS?
I am a fan of Orhan Pamuk but I have to admit that both this one as well as his previous novel, The Strangeness, are quite prosaic and conventionally told. The lyrical, intense, and rich style of his older, pre-Nobel novels seems to have disappeared. Some reviewers have suggested it might have to do with the new translator, one Ekin Oklap, after Maureen Freely, the erstwhile translator of his top-rated books, was let go. But I don’t quite think this is the case. You can easily recognise and love Pamuk’s style in Snow, The Black Book, The Museum of Innocence, The White Castle, and My Name is Red. The first three are translated by Maureen Freely but the last two are translated by Victoria Holbrook and Erdağ Göknar respectively (and Göknar’s one translation happens to be the best of all). This means that what we know of Pamuk’s style and voice isn’t reliant on the translations of Maureen Freely alone.
If three translators between themselves could maintain his style in five books there is no reason why Ekin Oklap would not have been able to do the same. Since I don’t know any Turkish to compare with the originals, I have to deduce from the above that it’s not really Ekin Oklap’s fault but Pamuk’s own style has undergone a change in his recent writings. I’ve argued elsewhere that he might be running out of steam, which isn’t an uncommon phenomenon, even with good writers. You can detect a writer’s literary weariness when you read Marquez’s swansong, Memories of My Melancholy Whores; and not surprisingly, being as scrupulous as he was, he didn’t write anything during the last 20 years of his life. It might just be time for Pamuk to sit back and think hard about what he is going to write next or whether he’s going to write anything at all.
October '18
So it does.
The story draws upon two ancient myths. Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, in which the son kills the father (unknowingly) and Ferdawsi’s Rustam and Sohrab taken from The Persian Book of Kings Shahnameh, which is a reversal of Oedipus Rex in that it is the father who kills the son (again, unknowingly) and the string of events that lead to both deaths and the consequences the murderers face for their sui generis crimes. The two contradictory yet complementing myths become the parameters in which the story of the eponymous Red-Haired Woman and her accidental lover is set.
This is by no means a retelling or adaptation of the either myth; quite the contrary. Here the protagonists are very conscious of the power of the afore-mentioned myth, study it, research it, try to steer clear of it, and yet see events unfold in their lives that ultimately come to a point where the myth is no longer an ancient story tucked away in books but being played right before their eyes against their will.
Starting from his previous novel, The Strangeness in My Mind,, there has been a fundamental shift in Pamuk's style and the subject he deals with. He abandoned the elite and middle classes and their identity problems to tell the stories of Turkey’s - in particular Istanbul’s - underprivileged people, the have-nots. In addition to that he chronicled the changes being wrought in Istanbul as a result of unplanned turbo-ubanisation and the fast disappearance of old arts and crafts in the age of consumerist capitalism and its compulsions.
The Red-Haired Woman continues in the same vein. It’s about the forgotten people with their now dispensable arts and now obsolete political rivalries, and the fundamental geographical and social changes that were taking place in his beloved Istanbul during the transitory period of the last quarter of the 20th century and, by extension, in Turkey.
In his previous novel he told the story of a family of rural boza sellers but in this novel it’s about the old and dying art of manual well-digging. I was particularly interested in that part and found it fascinating, perhaps because I could relate to some of it. I am old enough to remember the dying days of well-digging and functioning wells when I was growing up as a kid back in my village; a few hazy memories of the well that watered vegetables in the backyard of our country house before it had to be closed up and filled with earth when elders decided to install electrical water-pumps to draw up groundwater. That was in Pakistan and this story is from Turkey, but it was pretty much the same in both places. The wells haven't totally disappeared. You can still find them in more remote areas around sparsely populated hamlets where old pastoral and agrarian life continues to this day.
Pamuk spends a lot of pages to describe the finer details of well-digging through the story of one Master Mehmut, the master Well-digger, who takes our main protagonist, Cem, the narrator of two-third of the story, as his apprentice. Things happen that cause Cem to abandon his master and run away and begin a new life in the heart of Istanbul. Then we have a fast-paced narrative that covers decades before the turn of events bring him back to confront his old and buried secret. Cem, fully aware of the guiding myths of his life, tries to maneuver away from them but as fate would have it he’s unable to do so.
The book is designed unevenly and I felt the middle part of the story was rushed, as though the writer didn't want it to go beyond 250 printed pages, or couldn't wait to get to the end of the story to reconnect with the events in the early years of Cem. I also felt that Pamuk tried too hard to interpret the myths for us. He kind of over-explained them to the point that we already knew what's going to happen in the end. That was, in my opinion, a weak spot and a big one. All in all it's a good book but not a great one, despite Pamuk's attempt to give it a solid intellectual foundation by incorporating literary myths.
TRANSLATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS?
I am a fan of Orhan Pamuk but I have to admit that both this one as well as his previous novel, The Strangeness, are quite prosaic and conventionally told. The lyrical, intense, and rich style of his older, pre-Nobel novels seems to have disappeared. Some reviewers have suggested it might have to do with the new translator, one Ekin Oklap, after Maureen Freely, the erstwhile translator of his top-rated books, was let go. But I don’t quite think this is the case. You can easily recognise and love Pamuk’s style in Snow, The Black Book, The Museum of Innocence, The White Castle, and My Name is Red. The first three are translated by Maureen Freely but the last two are translated by Victoria Holbrook and Erdağ Göknar respectively (and Göknar’s one translation happens to be the best of all). This means that what we know of Pamuk’s style and voice isn’t reliant on the translations of Maureen Freely alone.
If three translators between themselves could maintain his style in five books there is no reason why Ekin Oklap would not have been able to do the same. Since I don’t know any Turkish to compare with the originals, I have to deduce from the above that it’s not really Ekin Oklap’s fault but Pamuk’s own style has undergone a change in his recent writings. I’ve argued elsewhere that he might be running out of steam, which isn’t an uncommon phenomenon, even with good writers. You can detect a writer’s literary weariness when you read Marquez’s swansong, Memories of My Melancholy Whores; and not surprisingly, being as scrupulous as he was, he didn’t write anything during the last 20 years of his life. It might just be time for Pamuk to sit back and think hard about what he is going to write next or whether he’s going to write anything at all.
October '18
February 19, 2016
Orhan Pamuk kendi anlatım biçimini oluşturmuş bir yazar. Bunu "Kırmızı Saçlı Kadın"ı okurken çok net, bir kez daha anladım. Hikayenin ilerleme ve karakterin salınma şekli hep aynı: Sıradan. Onun romanlarını da bence bu güzelleştiriyor. Sıradan karakterler, sıradan tesadüfler, sıradan 'farklılıklar.' "Benim Adım Kırmızı" ve "Kar"ı bir kenara koyacak olursak, Pamuk'un en muazzam beceresi normalde çok ilgimizi çekmeyecek karakterleri, en saklı gibi duran açıklıklarından bize aktarmak; bunu yaparken de karakterin yaşadığı döneme göre arka fonda bir ülke resmi çizmek. Bu romancılığının iyi bir örneği olmuş "Kırmızı Saçlı Kadın".
Yazarların, kendilerinden önceki hikayelerle olan bağları ve bunları dönüştürmeleri hep ilgimi çekmiştir. Bu bahisçilik, aktarıcılık, aracılık çok hoş duygular uyandırır bende. Merkezine iki hikayeyi alan bu kitabın da; Oedipus ve Firdevsi'nin Rüstem ile Sührab'ını; 'arketipsel insan' çerçevesinde/psikanalitik okuma sağlayacak şekilde aktatıyor olması orijinal olmasa bile, heyecanlandırıcı. En azından Türkçe bir romanda bu kadar bilinçli bir oturtma ben daha önce okuduğumu hatırlamıyorum.
Orhan Pamuk'un büyük romanlarından biraz yorulmuş benim için çok güzel ve çok lezzetli kısa bir durak oldu.
Ayrıca kitabın günümüze tekabül eden kısımlarında çok güçlü eleştiriler saklı. Bu şekilde kitaba homojen yedirilmesi okur olarak beni en memnun eden tarz. Onu da belirtmek istedim.
Kitap tıpkı "Benim Adım Kırmızı" gibi hoş bir postmodern son ile noktalanıyor. Yazarın bu ufak dokunuşları ile romanları zenginleştirmesi "Beyaz Kale"de ki gibi okuma keyfini katlarına katlıyor.
Yalnız kitap ile ilgili affedemeyeceğim bir hata var: Pier Paolo Pasaolini, Edipo Re(Kral Oedipus) filminde Anna Magnani ile çalışmamıştır. Anna ile "Mamma Roma" adlı filmi çekmiştir. Böylesi bir hatayı nasıl yapmış anlayamadım. Anna Magnani'nin kariyeri ve hayatı göz önüne alınırsa, bunun bilinçli bir yanlış söyleme hareketi mi olabileceği geçti aklımdan; ancak sadece bilgi verir gibi duran anlatım beni pek tatmin etmedi.
2016'nın en güzel kitaplarından biri olacak benim için, iyi okumalar!
Yazarların, kendilerinden önceki hikayelerle olan bağları ve bunları dönüştürmeleri hep ilgimi çekmiştir. Bu bahisçilik, aktarıcılık, aracılık çok hoş duygular uyandırır bende. Merkezine iki hikayeyi alan bu kitabın da; Oedipus ve Firdevsi'nin Rüstem ile Sührab'ını; 'arketipsel insan' çerçevesinde/psikanalitik okuma sağlayacak şekilde aktatıyor olması orijinal olmasa bile, heyecanlandırıcı. En azından Türkçe bir romanda bu kadar bilinçli bir oturtma ben daha önce okuduğumu hatırlamıyorum.
Orhan Pamuk'un büyük romanlarından biraz yorulmuş benim için çok güzel ve çok lezzetli kısa bir durak oldu.
Ayrıca kitabın günümüze tekabül eden kısımlarında çok güçlü eleştiriler saklı. Bu şekilde kitaba homojen yedirilmesi okur olarak beni en memnun eden tarz. Onu da belirtmek istedim.
Kitap tıpkı "Benim Adım Kırmızı" gibi hoş bir postmodern son ile noktalanıyor. Yazarın bu ufak dokunuşları ile romanları zenginleştirmesi "Beyaz Kale"de ki gibi okuma keyfini katlarına katlıyor.
Yalnız kitap ile ilgili affedemeyeceğim bir hata var: Pier Paolo Pasaolini, Edipo Re(Kral Oedipus) filminde Anna Magnani ile çalışmamıştır. Anna ile "Mamma Roma" adlı filmi çekmiştir. Böylesi bir hatayı nasıl yapmış anlayamadım. Anna Magnani'nin kariyeri ve hayatı göz önüne alınırsa, bunun bilinçli bir yanlış söyleme hareketi mi olabileceği geçti aklımdan; ancak sadece bilgi verir gibi duran anlatım beni pek tatmin etmedi.
2016'nın en güzel kitaplarından biri olacak benim için, iyi okumalar!
October 1, 2020
تتناول الرواية العلاقة الشائكة بين الأب وولده، من خلال حكاية الملك أوديب الذي قتل أباه بالخطأ ومن بعدها تزوج بأمّه وهو لا يعلم. وكتاب الشاهنامة قصة روستم وسهراب. روستم الذي قتل ابنه سهراب دون أن يعلم أنه قتل ولده سهراب.
من خلال أسطورة يونانية وأخرى إيرانية أراد الكاتب أن يربط ضياع تركيا بين الهوية الإسلامية والعلمانية. هنا سلطة الأب متمثلة في الحكومة التي تقود الشعب. من يعارض الأب (الحكومة) أو يخرج عن طاعته مصيره السجن المشؤوم! سجن سيليفري الذي يُعَدُّ أكبر معتقَلٍ ليس في تركيا وحسب، بل وفي عموم أوروبّا. حيث يضم اليساريين والصحفيين المعارضين والأكراد. ويضم مختلف أنواع القتلة واللصوص والمحتالين والمغتصبين. وضمّ الانقلابيون من العسكر في السابق الذين قادوا الانقلاب العسكري في تركيا عام 1980
رواية ذات الشعر الأحمر، هي رواية صراع الهوية التركية بين الشرق والغرب. الإسلام والعلمانية. الأُسطى محمود الحفّار يمثّل الإسلام الذي تركه جيم في قاع البئر، ونفذ بجلده عندما هرب من الموقع وترك الأُسطى وهو يظن أنه قد مات، لكن الأُسطى محمود كان حاضرًا بكل قوة يحفر في رأس جيم دائمًا. “هل بالإمكان التصرف على نحو ما وكأن شيئًا لم يحدث؟ فقد كان الأُسطى محمود ماضيًا في طريقه يحفر بالمعول والمجرفة في البئر الموجودة في رأسي. يحفر في التربة على الدوام وبلا كلل”.
وذات الشعر الأحمر في الرواية كانت تصبغ شعرها باّللون الأحمر، أي لم تولد حمراء الشعر، كانت تعايرها امرأة أخرى وتتعالى عليها بلون شعرها الأحمر الطبيعي. نفس التعالي الذي يعلنه الغرب على تركيا العثمانية التي تحاول أن تخرج من عباءة الإسلام إلى عباءة الغرب. فالأوروبيين ليومنا هذا لا يعترفون بتركيا كدولة أوروبية.
“أسعدني كثيرًا أنك ستكتب روايتك.. أريدها أن تكون مفعمة بالحيوية مثل حواراتي في المشاهد الأخيرة، وصادقة مثل أي حكاية واقعية. قريبة إلى النفس شأنها شأن الأسطورة. حينئذ ليس القضاة وحدهم وحسب، بل الجميع سيفهمون ماذا تعني!”.
رواية اجتماعية سياسية، وظّف الكاتب بكل براعة حكايتين متناقضتين في إظهار العلاقة بين الآباء والأبناء، الأساطير وأثرها في النفوس والحياة المجتمعية. تركيا القديمة والحديثة. كاتب ذكي وبارع، استطاع أن يجذب انتباهي لقراءة ما بين سطور الرواية.
اقتباسات
“يجب أن يكون الأب عادلاً، فالأب الذي لا يعدل بين أولاده يدفعهم إلى ظلمة العمى”.
“الأرض مثلها مثل جسد الإنسان بالضبط، تتغذى على الحديد والزنك والجير كما تغذي الدماء جسم بني البشر. وبين هذه الأوردة توجد طرق للماء كما توجد بحيرات صغيرة وكبيرة”.
“على الإنسان أن ينظر ويرى، وأن يفهم جيدًا ما يرى ويعبّر عن ذلك تكلمات مُجرَّدة”.
“من الخطأ أن يبحث المرء - مثل أوديب - عن إجابة لذنب صار في طيّ النسيان”.
“الشاهنامة هي موسوعة لقصص الملوك والسلاطين في الأزمنة الغابرة، وحكايات الأبطال الذين كانو على وشك أن يندثرروا تحت طائلة النسيان، لولا أن خلّدهم الفردوسي في كتابه”.
“تُرى هل نحن بحاجة ماسّة لمَن يبارك أفعالنا، ولنسمعَ ملء آذاننا أننا لسنا مذنبين ولا مخطئين؟ وهل الحاجة إلى الأب ملازمة لنا في كل زمان أم أننا نحتاج إليه فقط عندما تختلط علينا الأمور، حين تعتصر الهموم أرواحنا ويتحطّم العالم الذي بنيناه؟”.
“كل قضايا الأبوّة والبُنوّة التي تصل إلى قاعة المحكمة هي في الأساس دعاوي اقتصادية. فعلى مدى التاريخ لم نسمع أنْ قدَّم فتىً شكوى إلى المحكمة يقول فيها: هذا الثريّ ليس هو أبي الحقيقيّ بل هو ذلك الرجل الفقير، ويشير إلى رجل بائس”.
“كلّما أحفر بئرًا لا أشعر بأنني أتوغل في عمق الأرض، بل أحسّ أنّني أحفر نحو السماء، باتجاه النجوم. أظن أنّني أعرج نحو ملكوت الله وملائكته.. الله موجود في كل مكان. فمثلما هو موجود في الأعالي، موجود في الدنيا. وكذلك في كل الاتجاهات، في الشمال وفي الجنوب”.
“على قدر ما تقرأ وعلى قدر تصديقك بالأساطير ستُبتَلى بأحداثٍ مماثلة لها. لأن الحكاية التي تسمعها سوف تطلق عليها تسمية أسطورة بعد أن تعيش أحداثها”.
June 9, 2020
يبحر بِنا اورهان باموق في هذه الرواية الرائعة الى اهم العلاقات بين البشر "الاب والابن" بكل تعقيداتها وسهولتها ايضا، من خلال ربطها مع اسطورة أوديب في الادب الاغريقي والذي فيه الابن يقتل اياه، او من خلال اسطورة سرهاب ورستم في الادب الفارسي والذي فيه الاب يقتل ابنه.
ذات الشعر الاحمر ومن خلالها يصف اورهان التعقيد في العلاقة بين الاب والابن. والبحث عن اب في حالة فقدانه بالموت او حتى عدم تواجده.
ولا يغيب عنا الربط السياسي في الرواية خاصة لتركيا الحديثة وحكم العسكر الذي تنكر لتاريخ تركيا ومحاولة تقليد الغرب والتشبه به والتنكر لتاريخ تركيا كما يتنكر الابن من ابيه.
ومن خلال الرواية يعمل مقارنة بين ايران وتركيا التي عادت الى تراثها وتاريخها وتمجده من خلال اساطيرها وابطالها.
ربما يتنكر البن من ابيه وقد يصل الى حد قتله ولكن دائما بدون قصد واخيرا يبقى البلد او الوطن.
ذات الشعر الاحمر ومن خلالها يصف اورهان التعقيد في العلاقة بين الاب والابن. والبحث عن اب في حالة فقدانه بالموت او حتى عدم تواجده.
ولا يغيب عنا الربط السياسي في الرواية خاصة لتركيا الحديثة وحكم العسكر الذي تنكر لتاريخ تركيا ومحاولة تقليد الغرب والتشبه به والتنكر لتاريخ تركيا كما يتنكر الابن من ابيه.
ومن خلال الرواية يعمل مقارنة بين ايران وتركيا التي عادت الى تراثها وتاريخها وتمجده من خلال اساطيرها وابطالها.
ربما يتنكر البن من ابيه وقد يصل الى حد قتله ولكن دائما بدون قصد واخيرا يبقى البلد او الوطن.
August 29, 2017
This was a nice read. Would not recommend if you are new to Pamuk.
What to expect?
- lots of literary symbolisms
- frequent comparisons between Greek epic + Firdowsi's story of Rostam and Sohrab + life of protagonist
What did not seem right?
-Pamuk starts explaining. Almost as if he is scared the reader will not be able to read between the lines
-comparison between the protagonist's life and the epics seemed repetitive and lumpy.
-less lyrical than usual Pamuk novels
For more - http://www.thebooksatchel.com/red-hai...
What to expect?
- lots of literary symbolisms
- frequent comparisons between Greek epic + Firdowsi's story of Rostam and Sohrab + life of protagonist
What did not seem right?
-Pamuk starts explaining. Almost as if he is scared the reader will not be able to read between the lines
-comparison between the protagonist's life and the epics seemed repetitive and lumpy.
-less lyrical than usual Pamuk novels
For more - http://www.thebooksatchel.com/red-hai...
September 17, 2017
As a fatherless son, so a sonless father will be embraced by none.
from Ferdowski's Shahnameh (and the epigraph to this novel)
I had wanted to be a writer. But after the events I am about to describe, I studied engineer in geology and became a building contractor. Even So, readers shouldn't conclude from my telling the story now that it is over, that I've put it all behind me. The more I remember, the deeper I fall into it. Perhaps you, too, will follow, lured by the enigma of father and sons.
The Red-Haired Woman is the latest novel from Orhan Pamuk, one of those authors of whose books I am a completist, and this, while not perhaps hitting the Nobel-Prize worthy heights of his greatest work Snow, is another excellent addition to his works and my shelves.
[Review updated with some comments from an excellent reading and illustrated discussion between Orhan Pamuk and Boyd Tonkin at London's Southbank in September 2017]
At 250 pages it is much more compact than his last novel, the Dickensian A Strangeness in My Mind, but equally enjoyable and worthwhile, the relatively sparse story balanced by an interesting take on father/son relationships rooted in classical epics, but with also links back to Pamuk's earlier works.
And as with A Strangeness in My Mind, the translation by Ekin Oklap who has supplanted Maureen Freely (translator of Museum of Innocence and Snow). Again (my review of the previous book: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) the prose does appear more prosaic than Pamuk's earlier works, but whether this is a feature of the original, or indeed truer to Pamuk's prose generally, is difficult for me to say. Pamuk himself, it must be said, commented that he is a big fan of the translation, which is the ultimate endorsement.
The narrator [of most of the novel] begins the story living in Istanbul with his mother, his father, a middle-class pharmacist but also a leftist activist, having, after several periods of prolonged absence both while politically active and while detained by the authorities, finally permanently left the family home and re-married. He is cramming for his university exams, hoping to study literature, and takes on a summer-job in Öngören, a small town 30 miles from Istanbul as an apprentice to a well-digger.
Master Mahmut is one of the last practitioners of an art that had existed for thousands of years, although rather dismissive of some of the more elaborate rituals with divining rods and whispered prayers of some of his peers. Cem comments:
These particular skills led some of the old well-diggers to become convinced that, like the shamans of Central Asia, they, too, were in possession of supernatural powers and the gift of extrasensory perception, allowing them to commune with subterranean gods and jinn. I remember as a child hearing my father laugh at such tales, but those longing for cheap ways to find water wanted to believe them ... when well-diggers crouched amongst the creepers and pecking hens in those back gardens, listening to the soil, old men and middle-aged ladies would treat them with the reverence usually reserved for the doctor putting his ear to the sick baby's chest.
The reality of digging wells, as Cem soons discovers, is of back-breaking and dangerous work. Pamuk describes this in almost painful detail, and at first it appears the novel is largely telling the story of a dying craft in the same way as the boza seller in A Strangeness in My Mind. Pamuk himself had been wanting to tell the story of a well-digger looking for water in apparently barren-land ever since he met one while writing his The Black Book over 25 years earlier.
But as Master Mahmut and Cem rest in their tent each night from their exertions, the old man tells the apprentice stories, including that of Joseph, favourite son of his father, and abandoned down a well by his brothers. The well-digger draws the moral from the story that A father must be fair. A father who isn't fair will blind his son.
The next night, particularly tired after striking rock in his digging, Master Mahmut asks Cem to contribute a story of his own. Cem, presumably prompted by the talk of fathers, sons and blindness, tells the well-digger the story of Oedipus. which leads Mahmut to conclude that no one can escape their fate.
In the town, the 16 year-old Cem captures sight of the eponymous red-haired woman, in her thirties but mysterious and alluring. She turns out to be part of a small troupe of performing artists, The Theatre of Morality Tales, and when Cem watches her performance, it concludes with a powerful scene that he later, after researching the story, finds is that of Rostam and Sohrab from the Persian epic poem Shahnameh. In a reversal of the Greek story, here the father Rostam ends up, unknowingly, fighting and killing his son Sohrab.
After the rather drawn out (pun intended) process of digging the well, Cem's time in the town comes to an abrupt end, and the narrative rather accelerates, when he first sleeps with the red-haired woman and then an accident occurs at the well.
He returns to Istanbul where he contemplates both what happens, but also the two tales of Oedipus and of Rostam and Sohrab. In the Oedipal tale he seems particularly fascinating with how he could end up sleeping with his mother (a woman at least sixteen years older than he was. I tried both couldn't imagine what that was like), an odd failure of imagination given that was the exact age-gap to his red-haired lover. And the story of Rostam and Sohrab is one he needs to rediscover. As the islamist Blue explains to the secular modernist Ka in Pamuk's wonderful Snow.
Cem's research takes him around the world to discover manuscripts and miniatures based on the story (one of which features in My Name is Red):
Cem marries and - as the opening quote suggests - inspired by his well-digging experience enters into the construction business, rather than pursue his literary dreams. He and his wife prove unable to have their own children, and instead their construction company, which they name Sohrab, and which grows spectacularly in the rapidly expanding Istanbul, making Cem a rich and well-known businessman, as well as allowing the novel to touch on themes of Westernisation and individualism in the traditional Turkish society:
Sohrab was our son. He was growing up much faster than most children, outperforming his peers, and winning accolades for his business acumen.
Although he never forgets the red-haired woman, even recognising her in the actress
Silvana Mangano who plays Queen Jocasta, Oedipus's mother and wife, in Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1967 film Edipo Re.
During his and his wife's cultural research, they also discovers Wittfogel's Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power, which links Asian "hydraulic societies", needing conscripted labour to provide water and irrigation, to despotism (a sort of "at least he made the water run" equivalent to Mussolini's trains), and thereby, they decide, conditions ripe for patricide or filicide.
As the construction boom and expansion of the city reaches even the tiny town where Cem had helped build the well, he finds himself drawn back to Öngören, and inevitably sucked into a father-son confrontation that will have echoes of the two ancient tales. The coincidences of the stories are perhaps a little unrealistic but as one character remarks: Theatre has taught me not to dismiss anything in life as mere coincidence. To say more in the review would spoil the pleasure of the story.
The last section of the novel is narrated by the red-haired woman, reflecting on the events of the novel. She laments, both from the historical tales and her own life, that:
Whether it was fathers killing their sons, or sons killing fathers, men always emerged victorious, and all that was left for me to do was weep.
But as she unravels her own story, we discover a different perspective on what we had seemingly read in the rest of the novel, and realise that she had far more agency that the rather helpless quote above might imply.
And she herself sees a model for her looks in drawings and paintings of the poet and artist's model Elizabeth Siddal by the artist and poet, and later her husband, Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the 1850s, such as this one drawn shortly after their marriage:
The original Turkish version of the novel, for reasons made clear in the text, had such a picture on the front cover - perhaps my one criticism of the English version is that the publisher has chosen a far more abstract cover.
Overall - a wonderful blend of literary commentary, father-son relationships with the added dimension of the mother/wife/lover, and the modernisation of Istanbul.
from Ferdowski's Shahnameh (and the epigraph to this novel)
I had wanted to be a writer. But after the events I am about to describe, I studied engineer in geology and became a building contractor. Even So, readers shouldn't conclude from my telling the story now that it is over, that I've put it all behind me. The more I remember, the deeper I fall into it. Perhaps you, too, will follow, lured by the enigma of father and sons.
The Red-Haired Woman is the latest novel from Orhan Pamuk, one of those authors of whose books I am a completist, and this, while not perhaps hitting the Nobel-Prize worthy heights of his greatest work Snow, is another excellent addition to his works and my shelves.
[Review updated with some comments from an excellent reading and illustrated discussion between Orhan Pamuk and Boyd Tonkin at London's Southbank in September 2017]
At 250 pages it is much more compact than his last novel, the Dickensian A Strangeness in My Mind, but equally enjoyable and worthwhile, the relatively sparse story balanced by an interesting take on father/son relationships rooted in classical epics, but with also links back to Pamuk's earlier works.
And as with A Strangeness in My Mind, the translation by Ekin Oklap who has supplanted Maureen Freely (translator of Museum of Innocence and Snow). Again (my review of the previous book: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) the prose does appear more prosaic than Pamuk's earlier works, but whether this is a feature of the original, or indeed truer to Pamuk's prose generally, is difficult for me to say. Pamuk himself, it must be said, commented that he is a big fan of the translation, which is the ultimate endorsement.
The narrator [of most of the novel] begins the story living in Istanbul with his mother, his father, a middle-class pharmacist but also a leftist activist, having, after several periods of prolonged absence both while politically active and while detained by the authorities, finally permanently left the family home and re-married. He is cramming for his university exams, hoping to study literature, and takes on a summer-job in Öngören, a small town 30 miles from Istanbul as an apprentice to a well-digger.
Master Mahmut is one of the last practitioners of an art that had existed for thousands of years, although rather dismissive of some of the more elaborate rituals with divining rods and whispered prayers of some of his peers. Cem comments:
These particular skills led some of the old well-diggers to become convinced that, like the shamans of Central Asia, they, too, were in possession of supernatural powers and the gift of extrasensory perception, allowing them to commune with subterranean gods and jinn. I remember as a child hearing my father laugh at such tales, but those longing for cheap ways to find water wanted to believe them ... when well-diggers crouched amongst the creepers and pecking hens in those back gardens, listening to the soil, old men and middle-aged ladies would treat them with the reverence usually reserved for the doctor putting his ear to the sick baby's chest.
The reality of digging wells, as Cem soons discovers, is of back-breaking and dangerous work. Pamuk describes this in almost painful detail, and at first it appears the novel is largely telling the story of a dying craft in the same way as the boza seller in A Strangeness in My Mind. Pamuk himself had been wanting to tell the story of a well-digger looking for water in apparently barren-land ever since he met one while writing his The Black Book over 25 years earlier.
But as Master Mahmut and Cem rest in their tent each night from their exertions, the old man tells the apprentice stories, including that of Joseph, favourite son of his father, and abandoned down a well by his brothers. The well-digger draws the moral from the story that A father must be fair. A father who isn't fair will blind his son.
The next night, particularly tired after striking rock in his digging, Master Mahmut asks Cem to contribute a story of his own. Cem, presumably prompted by the talk of fathers, sons and blindness, tells the well-digger the story of Oedipus. which leads Mahmut to conclude that no one can escape their fate.
In the town, the 16 year-old Cem captures sight of the eponymous red-haired woman, in her thirties but mysterious and alluring. She turns out to be part of a small troupe of performing artists, The Theatre of Morality Tales, and when Cem watches her performance, it concludes with a powerful scene that he later, after researching the story, finds is that of Rostam and Sohrab from the Persian epic poem Shahnameh. In a reversal of the Greek story, here the father Rostam ends up, unknowingly, fighting and killing his son Sohrab.
After the rather drawn out (pun intended) process of digging the well, Cem's time in the town comes to an abrupt end, and the narrative rather accelerates, when he first sleeps with the red-haired woman and then an accident occurs at the well.
He returns to Istanbul where he contemplates both what happens, but also the two tales of Oedipus and of Rostam and Sohrab. In the Oedipal tale he seems particularly fascinating with how he could end up sleeping with his mother (a woman at least sixteen years older than he was. I tried both couldn't imagine what that was like), an odd failure of imagination given that was the exact age-gap to his red-haired lover. And the story of Rostam and Sohrab is one he needs to rediscover. As the islamist Blue explains to the secular modernist Ka in Pamuk's wonderful Snow.
Once upon a time, millions of people knew it by heart — from Tabriz to Istanbul, from Bosnia to Trabzon — and when they recalled this story, they found the meaning in their lives. The story spoke to them in just the same way that Oedipus’ murder of his father or Macbeth’s obsession with power and death speak to people throughout the Western world. But now, because we’ve fallen under the spell of the West, we’ve forgotten our own stories.Pamuk also himself has remarked that the Oedipus and Rostam stories illustrate different aspects of Western and Eastern culture: to the extent our sympathies lie with the murderer in each case, for Oedipus we are supporting individualism and for Rostam authoritarianism and the continuation of the state.
Cem's research takes him around the world to discover manuscripts and miniatures based on the story (one of which features in My Name is Red):
Cem marries and - as the opening quote suggests - inspired by his well-digging experience enters into the construction business, rather than pursue his literary dreams. He and his wife prove unable to have their own children, and instead their construction company, which they name Sohrab, and which grows spectacularly in the rapidly expanding Istanbul, making Cem a rich and well-known businessman, as well as allowing the novel to touch on themes of Westernisation and individualism in the traditional Turkish society:
Sohrab was our son. He was growing up much faster than most children, outperforming his peers, and winning accolades for his business acumen.
Although he never forgets the red-haired woman, even recognising her in the actress
Silvana Mangano who plays Queen Jocasta, Oedipus's mother and wife, in Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1967 film Edipo Re.
During his and his wife's cultural research, they also discovers Wittfogel's Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power, which links Asian "hydraulic societies", needing conscripted labour to provide water and irrigation, to despotism (a sort of "at least he made the water run" equivalent to Mussolini's trains), and thereby, they decide, conditions ripe for patricide or filicide.
As the construction boom and expansion of the city reaches even the tiny town where Cem had helped build the well, he finds himself drawn back to Öngören, and inevitably sucked into a father-son confrontation that will have echoes of the two ancient tales. The coincidences of the stories are perhaps a little unrealistic but as one character remarks: Theatre has taught me not to dismiss anything in life as mere coincidence. To say more in the review would spoil the pleasure of the story.
The last section of the novel is narrated by the red-haired woman, reflecting on the events of the novel. She laments, both from the historical tales and her own life, that:
Whether it was fathers killing their sons, or sons killing fathers, men always emerged victorious, and all that was left for me to do was weep.
But as she unravels her own story, we discover a different perspective on what we had seemingly read in the rest of the novel, and realise that she had far more agency that the rather helpless quote above might imply.
And she herself sees a model for her looks in drawings and paintings of the poet and artist's model Elizabeth Siddal by the artist and poet, and later her husband, Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the 1850s, such as this one drawn shortly after their marriage:
The original Turkish version of the novel, for reasons made clear in the text, had such a picture on the front cover - perhaps my one criticism of the English version is that the publisher has chosen a far more abstract cover.
Overall - a wonderful blend of literary commentary, father-son relationships with the added dimension of the mother/wife/lover, and the modernisation of Istanbul.
September 21, 2022
اورهان پاموک نویسنده مشهور ترکیه در کتاب موقرمز تلاش کرده داستان خود را میان ریشه های سنت و مدرنیته بناکرده وبه گونه ای گذشته را با آینده ، شرق را با غرب ، سنت را با مدرنیته و اسطوره را با حقیقت پیوند داده . رابطه بین پدر و پسر محور اصلی کتاب پاموک بوده و قهرمان داستان او همزمان از احساس یتیم بودن و ناتوانی همسرش در باردار شدن و نداشتن پسر رنج می برد .
آن چه در کتاب پاموک دیده می شود شرح مجموعه ای از پسر کشی ها و پدر کشی ها ست ، او از افسانه رستم و سهراب برای پسر کشی و از افسانه اودیپ برای پدرکشی و البته پایان قهرمان کتاب استفاده کرده . مانند کتاب های دیگر پاموک ، استانبول باز هم حضوری نسبتا پررنگ در داستان او دارد ، شاید نویسنده به بزرگ شدن و گسترش بی رویه استانبول و افزایش حاشیه نشینی در اطراف آن معترض بوده و جدال آخر داستان را افزون بر موضوع پدرکشی بتوان مقابله حاشیه نشینان با شهرنشینان هم دانست .
آنچه کتاب را برای خواننده ایرانی در کنار رستم و سهراب و نقش کلیدی فردوسی در زنده نگه داشتن ریشه های یک ملت کهن جالب کرده سفر جم قهرمان داستان به ایران و تهران بوده ، ایرانی که آن موقع هم در تحریم بوده و به قول جم نیمی از جهان با ایران تجارت نمی کرده اند . جم و دوست او مراد از تجارت با ایران در تحریم پول و ثروتی قابل توجه به دست آورده اند . آشکار است که تحریم اگر برای مردم ایران آب نداشته دست کم
برای ترکها نان داشته است .
شوربختانه باید اعتراف کرد که داستان کتاب هرچه به انتها و پایان خود نزدیکتر شده ، رقیق تر و سیر حوادث آن قابل پیش بینی تر می شود . داستان پاموک تا زمانی که جم نوجوان در حال کندن چاه است جذاب به نظرمی رسد و با بزرگ شدن و رشد جم ، حوادث داستان سریع تر شده و داستان پاموک گیرایی و ریتم خود را از دست می دهد . در پایان آنچه تنها باقی مانده مشخص شدن نسبت خویشاوندی افراد مختلف با هم است که البته پاموک آنرا به سادگی به هم ربط داده و آشوب و بلوا پیش آمده را ختم به خیر کرده است .
اگرچه ابتدا کتاب پاموک نوید یک داستان متفاوت و خواندنی را می دهد اما شوربختانه داستان او به سرعت از ریتم جذاب خود افتاده و به یک داستان بسیار معمولی و خسته کننده تبدیل شده است . پاموک با چرخش انتها کتاب کوشش کرده داستان خود را نجات دهد اما تلاش او تنها سبب رقیق تر شدن کتاب شده است .
در پایان باید گفت حکایت خلاقانه پاموک از افسانه اودیپ گرچه تاییدی ایست بر ذهن زیبا و نبوغ نویسنده مشهور اما نمی توان آنرا کتاب شاخصی در سابقه پاموک دانست .
آن چه در کتاب پاموک دیده می شود شرح مجموعه ای از پسر کشی ها و پدر کشی ها ست ، او از افسانه رستم و سهراب برای پسر کشی و از افسانه اودیپ برای پدرکشی و البته پایان قهرمان کتاب استفاده کرده . مانند کتاب های دیگر پاموک ، استانبول باز هم حضوری نسبتا پررنگ در داستان او دارد ، شاید نویسنده به بزرگ شدن و گسترش بی رویه استانبول و افزایش حاشیه نشینی در اطراف آن معترض بوده و جدال آخر داستان را افزون بر موضوع پدرکشی بتوان مقابله حاشیه نشینان با شهرنشینان هم دانست .
آنچه کتاب را برای خواننده ایرانی در کنار رستم و سهراب و نقش کلیدی فردوسی در زنده نگه داشتن ریشه های یک ملت کهن جالب کرده سفر جم قهرمان داستان به ایران و تهران بوده ، ایرانی که آن موقع هم در تحریم بوده و به قول جم نیمی از جهان با ایران تجارت نمی کرده اند . جم و دوست او مراد از تجارت با ایران در تحریم پول و ثروتی قابل توجه به دست آورده اند . آشکار است که تحریم اگر برای مردم ایران آب نداشته دست کم
برای ترکها نان داشته است .
شوربختانه باید اعتراف کرد که داستان کتاب هرچه به انتها و پایان خود نزدیکتر شده ، رقیق تر و سیر حوادث آن قابل پیش بینی تر می شود . داستان پاموک تا زمانی که جم نوجوان در حال کندن چاه است جذاب به نظرمی رسد و با بزرگ شدن و رشد جم ، حوادث داستان سریع تر شده و داستان پاموک گیرایی و ریتم خود را از دست می دهد . در پایان آنچه تنها باقی مانده مشخص شدن نسبت خویشاوندی افراد مختلف با هم است که البته پاموک آنرا به سادگی به هم ربط داده و آشوب و بلوا پیش آمده را ختم به خیر کرده است .
اگرچه ابتدا کتاب پاموک نوید یک داستان متفاوت و خواندنی را می دهد اما شوربختانه داستان او به سرعت از ریتم جذاب خود افتاده و به یک داستان بسیار معمولی و خسته کننده تبدیل شده است . پاموک با چرخش انتها کتاب کوشش کرده داستان خود را نجات دهد اما تلاش او تنها سبب رقیق تر شدن کتاب شده است .
در پایان باید گفت حکایت خلاقانه پاموک از افسانه اودیپ گرچه تاییدی ایست بر ذهن زیبا و نبوغ نویسنده مشهور اما نمی توان آنرا کتاب شاخصی در سابقه پاموک دانست .
February 7, 2016
Kara Kitap'ı okurken aldığım zevki Kırmızı Saçlı Kadın'ın her satırında tekrar tekrar yaşadım. Üstelik son sayfaya geldiğimde kitabı 11 ay içinde yazdığını görünce Orhan Pamuk'un kalemini neden sevdiğimi bir kez daha anladım.
Pamuk'un 200 sayfayı geçmeme konusunda kendine ettiği telkinler pratikte işe yaradığı gibi birkaç on yılı, toplumun değişimini, doğu-batı arasında kalmışlı��ı, birey-otorite ilişkisini ve ek olarak efsanelerle masalları diğer yazdıklarını aratmayacak bir başarıyla kısacık romana yedirebilmiş. Son az hacimli kitabını 30 yıl önce yazabilmiş ve bundan pek memnun olmayan bir yazarın bunu başarabilmesini bir romancının en büyük zaferlerinden biri olarak görüyorum.
Benim için 2016 yılının en iyi kitaplarından biri Kırmızı Saçlı Kadın. "Hem yaşanmış bir hikâye gibi sahici, hem de bir efsane gibi tanıdık..."
Pamuk'un 200 sayfayı geçmeme konusunda kendine ettiği telkinler pratikte işe yaradığı gibi birkaç on yılı, toplumun değişimini, doğu-batı arasında kalmışlı��ı, birey-otorite ilişkisini ve ek olarak efsanelerle masalları diğer yazdıklarını aratmayacak bir başarıyla kısacık romana yedirebilmiş. Son az hacimli kitabını 30 yıl önce yazabilmiş ve bundan pek memnun olmayan bir yazarın bunu başarabilmesini bir romancının en büyük zaferlerinden biri olarak görüyorum.
Benim için 2016 yılının en iyi kitaplarından biri Kırmızı Saçlı Kadın. "Hem yaşanmış bir hikâye gibi sahici, hem de bir efsane gibi tanıdık..."
May 3, 2023
يبحث الطفل "جيم" عن بديل لأباه الذي اختفى من حياته ومن حياة أمه، حيث أعتقد أن اختفائه يعود للاعتقال السياسي، وتفككت العائلة وكبر جيم وحيداً في مواجهة الحياة، ومُجبراً على العمل عند حفار آبار، حاول معه أن يختبر مشاعر الأبوة، وأن يملئ حاجته الى وجود أب في حياته.
يعود باموق في هذه الرواية الى حقبة الثمانينات من القرن الماضي، والتي كانت تركيا حينها تخضع للانقلابات والصراعات على كرسي الحكم، يبدأ بسرد التفاصيل عن عائلته وطفولته، أبوه الذي كان يمتلك صيدلية صغيرة في حيّهم، وكان دائماً ما يلتقي بأصدقاء السياسة فيها يناقشون الأوضاع وأزمات البلاد، وحين يدخل عليهم الطفل جيم الصيدلية بعشاء أبيه يتوقفون عن الكلام، وكان يخشى أن يخبر أمه بذلك مخافة أن تغضب على أبيه من أن يقع في المتاعب مجدداً، ويضطر لتركهم بسبب ذلك، حيث حدث ذلك قبل ثماني سنوات حين تم اعتقاله من قبل الشعبة السياسية حين ذاك.
لكن الشجارات التي كانت تقع بين الأب والأم لم يكن سببها الوحيد سياسياً، حيث كانا متخاصمين دائماً، وانطفأ الحب وخبت شعلته بينهم، بسبب علاقات الأب المتعددة مع نساء أخريات.
وذات يوم حين عاد الى المنزل لاحظ اختفاء والده، وظن أنه أعتقل ولكن أمه تعاملت مع الحدث هذه المرة بغضب وحزن مما دفعه للتفكير في أسباب أخرى أدت إلى اختفاء الأب، وبالفعل غاب عنهم بل نسيهم، مما دفع بالطفل جيم لعدم تذكر شكله ولم يعد باستطاعته استعادة ملامح أبيه، ولذلك قرّر الاعتماد على نفسه وخاصة أنه يرغب في استكمال دراسته.
لذا فقد أنتقل للعمل مع أحد حفاري الآبار يُدعى "الأسطى محمود" وتوجها إلى قرية صغيرة متاخمة لإسطنبول، حينها كان في السابعة عشر من عمره، فيرى فيه جيم صورة الأب الذي افتقده، ذلك الأب الذي يأمر وينهى، كان الأسطى يعلمه أصول الصنعة وينقل إليه خبراته الطويلة المتراكمة عبر السنين، أحبه وشمله بالرعاية الأبوية وأولاده أقصى اهتماماته، وكان يغضب منه اذا تأخر في أداء أو إنهاء مهام عمله، وحين يأتي المساء كان يسأله عن صحته وأن كان متعباُ او جائعاً، ويقص عليه القصص قاصداً أن يعلمه العبر منها وهذا مالا يفعله أبيه معه سابقاً.
وفي أثناء عمله مع الأسطى في البئر يحدث حادث لجيم يغيّر ويقلب حياته تماماً ليبقى يُلاحقه ذلك الحادث لسنوات طويله ويأبى أن يتركه في حاله.
الجميل في هذه الرواية أيضاً هو توظيف الأسطورة اليونانيّة والفارسيّة في إظهار العلاقة المعقدة بين الآباء والأبناء.
اسطورة أوديب اليونانيّة والتي تجسّد فكرة قتل الأبن للأب، كما تجسّد فكرة القدر الذي لا فكاك منه، أوديب الذي ولد أبناً لملك تنبأ العرّافين بأنه سيقتل أباه ويتزوج من أمة، ولذا حين ولادته قرّر الملك التخلص منه، لكنه عاش وأصبح بطلاً وملكاً أسطورياً حين قتل الوحش المرعب وتزوج ابنة الملك وورث حكمه، إلى أن يشاء القدر فيلتقي باباه الذي لا يعرفه فيقتله ويتزوج من الملكة التي كانت أمه دون أن يدري، لتتحقق النبوة، وحين يعرف ذلك يقوم بمعاقبة نفسه باقتلاع عينيه.
كذلك الأسطورة الفارسيّة، أسطورة رستم وسهراب والتي تجسّد فكرة استبداد الأب، حيث يقتل الأبن على يد أبيه، حيث وردت القصة في الشهنامة للفردوسي وهي الملحمة الشعريّة المكونة من ألف بيت، وتعتبر أعظم أثر أدبيّ فارسيّ على مر العصور.
الرواية عبارة عن بحث وتنقيب حول علاقة الآباء بالأبناء والعكس، تمثل الاستبداد والفردية والفوضى والحرية، فالأب يمتلك السلطة والأبناء يريدون التخلّص منها وفي نفس الوقت يشعرون بالحاجة اليها، وأن الحياة لا تستقيم بدون الأب فالجميع بحاجة إلى منقذ، لذا فأننا نتبع الأب دائماً حتى وأن كان سيئاً.
الرواية تحفل بالأحداث والمفاجآت والتشويق، وأعتبرها من ضمن أفضل ما قرأت لهذا العام فيما قرأته، اللغة مكتنزة بالجمال والمدلولات والبلاغة، قوية ودسمة تحاكي خيال الكاتب الكبير الذي يكاد يقنعك بأن ما تقرأه حقيقة واقعة أو قد وقعت على الرغم من كونها لآ تتعدى خيال كاتبها.
يعود باموق في هذه الرواية الى حقبة الثمانينات من القرن الماضي، والتي كانت تركيا حينها تخضع للانقلابات والصراعات على كرسي الحكم، يبدأ بسرد التفاصيل عن عائلته وطفولته، أبوه الذي كان يمتلك صيدلية صغيرة في حيّهم، وكان دائماً ما يلتقي بأصدقاء السياسة فيها يناقشون الأوضاع وأزمات البلاد، وحين يدخل عليهم الطفل جيم الصيدلية بعشاء أبيه يتوقفون عن الكلام، وكان يخشى أن يخبر أمه بذلك مخافة أن تغضب على أبيه من أن يقع في المتاعب مجدداً، ويضطر لتركهم بسبب ذلك، حيث حدث ذلك قبل ثماني سنوات حين تم اعتقاله من قبل الشعبة السياسية حين ذاك.
لكن الشجارات التي كانت تقع بين الأب والأم لم يكن سببها الوحيد سياسياً، حيث كانا متخاصمين دائماً، وانطفأ الحب وخبت شعلته بينهم، بسبب علاقات الأب المتعددة مع نساء أخريات.
وذات يوم حين عاد الى المنزل لاحظ اختفاء والده، وظن أنه أعتقل ولكن أمه تعاملت مع الحدث هذه المرة بغضب وحزن مما دفعه للتفكير في أسباب أخرى أدت إلى اختفاء الأب، وبالفعل غاب عنهم بل نسيهم، مما دفع بالطفل جيم لعدم تذكر شكله ولم يعد باستطاعته استعادة ملامح أبيه، ولذلك قرّر الاعتماد على نفسه وخاصة أنه يرغب في استكمال دراسته.
لذا فقد أنتقل للعمل مع أحد حفاري الآبار يُدعى "الأسطى محمود" وتوجها إلى قرية صغيرة متاخمة لإسطنبول، حينها كان في السابعة عشر من عمره، فيرى فيه جيم صورة الأب الذي افتقده، ذلك الأب الذي يأمر وينهى، كان الأسطى يعلمه أصول الصنعة وينقل إليه خبراته الطويلة المتراكمة عبر السنين، أحبه وشمله بالرعاية الأبوية وأولاده أقصى اهتماماته، وكان يغضب منه اذا تأخر في أداء أو إنهاء مهام عمله، وحين يأتي المساء كان يسأله عن صحته وأن كان متعباُ او جائعاً، ويقص عليه القصص قاصداً أن يعلمه العبر منها وهذا مالا يفعله أبيه معه سابقاً.
وفي أثناء عمله مع الأسطى في البئر يحدث حادث لجيم يغيّر ويقلب حياته تماماً ليبقى يُلاحقه ذلك الحادث لسنوات طويله ويأبى أن يتركه في حاله.
الجميل في هذه الرواية أيضاً هو توظيف الأسطورة اليونانيّة والفارسيّة في إظهار العلاقة المعقدة بين الآباء والأبناء.
اسطورة أوديب اليونانيّة والتي تجسّد فكرة قتل الأبن للأب، كما تجسّد فكرة القدر الذي لا فكاك منه، أوديب الذي ولد أبناً لملك تنبأ العرّافين بأنه سيقتل أباه ويتزوج من أمة، ولذا حين ولادته قرّر الملك التخلص منه، لكنه عاش وأصبح بطلاً وملكاً أسطورياً حين قتل الوحش المرعب وتزوج ابنة الملك وورث حكمه، إلى أن يشاء القدر فيلتقي باباه الذي لا يعرفه فيقتله ويتزوج من الملكة التي كانت أمه دون أن يدري، لتتحقق النبوة، وحين يعرف ذلك يقوم بمعاقبة نفسه باقتلاع عينيه.
كذلك الأسطورة الفارسيّة، أسطورة رستم وسهراب والتي تجسّد فكرة استبداد الأب، حيث يقتل الأبن على يد أبيه، حيث وردت القصة في الشهنامة للفردوسي وهي الملحمة الشعريّة المكونة من ألف بيت، وتعتبر أعظم أثر أدبيّ فارسيّ على مر العصور.
الرواية عبارة عن بحث وتنقيب حول علاقة الآباء بالأبناء والعكس، تمثل الاستبداد والفردية والفوضى والحرية، فالأب يمتلك السلطة والأبناء يريدون التخلّص منها وفي نفس الوقت يشعرون بالحاجة اليها، وأن الحياة لا تستقيم بدون الأب فالجميع بحاجة إلى منقذ، لذا فأننا نتبع الأب دائماً حتى وأن كان سيئاً.
الرواية تحفل بالأحداث والمفاجآت والتشويق، وأعتبرها من ضمن أفضل ما قرأت لهذا العام فيما قرأته، اللغة مكتنزة بالجمال والمدلولات والبلاغة، قوية ودسمة تحاكي خيال الكاتب الكبير الذي يكاد يقنعك بأن ما تقرأه حقيقة واقعة أو قد وقعت على الرغم من كونها لآ تتعدى خيال كاتبها.
October 8, 2016
Orhan Pamuk ülkemizin en iyi hikaye anlatıcılarından biri. İnsanı hikayenin içine çeken üslubunun gücü de yadsınamaz. Gelenekle moderniteyi bağdaştırmakta, sıkıcı olmadan postmodern olmayı başarmakta da usta bir yazar. Kırmızı Saçlı Kadın'da da tüm bu özelliklerini görüyoruz. Daha az hacimli yazmaya dönmesi de iyiye bir işaret. Zira ben son romanlarında gereksiz uzun yazdığını, tekrarlara düştüğünü düşünenlerdenim, yoksa uzun romanlarla bir sorunum yok.
Bu kitabın bence olumsuz anlamda en fazla göze batan yönü, romana temel oluşturan iki klasik eserin (Oidipus ve Şehname) okuyanı bunaltacak ölçüde tekrar tekrar işlenmesi, okura kendi sonuçlarını çıkarması için yeterli alan bırakılmaması. Bunun ötesinde, uluslararası bir kitleye hitap etme gayretinin bariz işaretleri gibi klasik Orhan Pamuk özellikleri de biraz rahatsız ediyor. Ülkemizde basında en çok işlenen iki cinayet haberlerden birinin cinsel açlık çeken oğulların anneleriyle yatması sonrasında işlenen suçlar olduğu gibi (s.114), en hafif tabiriyle aşırı abartılı bir iddia da, oryantalist eğilimlere hizmet eden bir gariplik olarak romanda sırıtıyor.
Benim tespit edebildiğim iki maddi hata da (ünlü Yahudi Rothschild ailesinin Rotschild olarak yazılması (s.177) ve Tahran'daki Gülistan Sarayından Gülizar Sarayı olarak bahsedilmesi (s.178) ki önceki bölümde bu saray doğru ismiyle anılıyor) küçük de olsa Orhan Pamuk kalibresindeki bir yazara veya bu kitabı yayınlayanların titizliğine yakışmıyor. Bir de, bizde saç rengine kızıl denir, kırmızı denmez. Kızıl Saçlı Kadın daha iyi başlık olurdu herhalde. Acaba bu tercihte de yine çeviri endişeleri mi rol oynadı?
Kitabın sonundaki Pamuk'un diğer kitaplarının tanıtıldığı sayfalarda alıntılanan olumlu eleştirilerin tümünün yabancı kaynaklı olması da dikkat çekici. Bu yaklaşımlar, "pazarlamacı yazar", "Batı için yazan yazar" eleştirilerine daha fazla zemin sağlıyor bence. Orhan Pamuk'un buna artık ihtiyacı olduğunu hiç sanmıyorum. Çünkü gerçekten iyi ve özel bir yazar.
Bu kitabın bence olumsuz anlamda en fazla göze batan yönü, romana temel oluşturan iki klasik eserin (Oidipus ve Şehname) okuyanı bunaltacak ölçüde tekrar tekrar işlenmesi, okura kendi sonuçlarını çıkarması için yeterli alan bırakılmaması. Bunun ötesinde, uluslararası bir kitleye hitap etme gayretinin bariz işaretleri gibi klasik Orhan Pamuk özellikleri de biraz rahatsız ediyor. Ülkemizde basında en çok işlenen iki cinayet haberlerden birinin cinsel açlık çeken oğulların anneleriyle yatması sonrasında işlenen suçlar olduğu gibi (s.114), en hafif tabiriyle aşırı abartılı bir iddia da, oryantalist eğilimlere hizmet eden bir gariplik olarak romanda sırıtıyor.
Benim tespit edebildiğim iki maddi hata da (ünlü Yahudi Rothschild ailesinin Rotschild olarak yazılması (s.177) ve Tahran'daki Gülistan Sarayından Gülizar Sarayı olarak bahsedilmesi (s.178) ki önceki bölümde bu saray doğru ismiyle anılıyor) küçük de olsa Orhan Pamuk kalibresindeki bir yazara veya bu kitabı yayınlayanların titizliğine yakışmıyor. Bir de, bizde saç rengine kızıl denir, kırmızı denmez. Kızıl Saçlı Kadın daha iyi başlık olurdu herhalde. Acaba bu tercihte de yine çeviri endişeleri mi rol oynadı?
Kitabın sonundaki Pamuk'un diğer kitaplarının tanıtıldığı sayfalarda alıntılanan olumlu eleştirilerin tümünün yabancı kaynaklı olması da dikkat çekici. Bu yaklaşımlar, "pazarlamacı yazar", "Batı için yazan yazar" eleştirilerine daha fazla zemin sağlıyor bence. Orhan Pamuk'un buna artık ihtiyacı olduğunu hiç sanmıyorum. Çünkü gerçekten iyi ve özel bir yazar.
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September 7, 2020إلى صديقي أورهان ،
منذ فترة طرح عليَ صديق سؤال من كاتبك المفضل أو الكاتب الذي تريد لقاء به ؟
حينها أجبت أن كل من أريد لقاء بهم قد ماتوا قبل حتى أن أولد 😊
دقة قديمة انا يبدو
لكن يوم السبت وجدت نفسي تختار لقاء أورهان في ظرف خاص جدا
دون جميع الكتاب وثقت في قلمه و توجهت له..
هل لانه كتب رواية متحف براءة تلك الرواية التي سحرتني .قصة العشق التي نسج أورهان تفاصيلها بدقة متناهية
ام لانه كتب تلك رواية التي تحدّْتني و لم أستطع إكملها "إسمي أحمر"
أم هو حنين الطفولة ف اسم الرواية يُذكريني ب كرتون "ذات الشعر الاشقر " الذي أحب.
أُخمن أن كل تلك أسباب تجمعت معًا و محبتي لقلمه .جعلتني أتوجه له في ظرف خاص جدًا.
بعد هذه الحدوتته الطويلة .لندخل في الرسمي كما نقول يالتونسي.
هات من لخر 😊.
إن كانت روايته اسمي احمر تيمتها الرئسية اسم وردة ..
فهذه الرواية تيمتها الرئسية أسطورة أوديب.
هي إعادة صياغة ذكية و مبدعة لهذه أسطورة من وجهة نظرة تركية مع دمج السياسية
فالدولة هي الاب و نظام السلطة في بلدان العربية .يعتبر نظام سياسي أبوي و تطعيمه بعبق الاسطورة و قصة العشق و كعادة .عبق استطنبول و شوراعها.
لنترك رواية قليلة.و اسمحوا لي أن أحدثكم عن خواطري مع أورهان
هذا روائي مبدع و مجتهد و يعشق سرد حكايا ..فمن غير اورهان سيجعل تتابع عملية حفر بئر بدقة و تستمع بحديث اسطى محمود
عن تجاربه .
رغم احترازاتي على بعض جمل و فقرات.لكن من إجحاف أن انكر موهبة الرجل و ابداعه
فلقد جعلتني اتتبع أسطورة رغم معرفتي كيف سنتنهي
و في أخير
هل تركيز اورهان على اهمية الاب و سلطة أب اعتباطي أم هو رد فعل واعية امام هجمات النسوبة التي نراها ؟
هل يا ترى فقدان الأب بشكل طبيعي الموت يزعزع كيان الرجل مثل لو هجره بالارادته؟
أردت لو تحدث عن مثال الأب و البنت لكن يبدو انه ترك ذلك لابنة بلده اليف و هو تحدث عن ما يمثله الاب لرجل
وقفت حائرة امام رواية لذلك..لن أقييم.
أورهان أشكرك كنت خير رفيق لي .
لست افكر في لقاءك
كأنه من جاء يدعوني 😄لكن انت من كتابي المفضلين ..
شكرا صديقي .
عاشق تركيا و اللون الاحمر 💟🌸
7/09/20 😊
منذ فترة طرح عليَ صديق سؤال من كاتبك المفضل أو الكاتب الذي تريد لقاء به ؟
حينها أجبت أن كل من أريد لقاء بهم قد ماتوا قبل حتى أن أولد 😊
دقة قديمة انا يبدو
لكن يوم السبت وجدت نفسي تختار لقاء أورهان في ظرف خاص جدا
دون جميع الكتاب وثقت في قلمه و توجهت له..
هل لانه كتب رواية متحف براءة تلك الرواية التي سحرتني .قصة العشق التي نسج أورهان تفاصيلها بدقة متناهية
ام لانه كتب تلك رواية التي تحدّْتني و لم أستطع إكملها "إسمي أحمر"
أم هو حنين الطفولة ف اسم الرواية يُذكريني ب كرتون "ذات الشعر الاشقر " الذي أحب.
أُخمن أن كل تلك أسباب تجمعت معًا و محبتي لقلمه .جعلتني أتوجه له في ظرف خاص جدًا.
بعد هذه الحدوتته الطويلة .لندخل في الرسمي كما نقول يالتونسي.
هات من لخر 😊.
إن كانت روايته اسمي احمر تيمتها الرئسية اسم وردة ..
فهذه الرواية تيمتها الرئسية أسطورة أوديب.
هي إعادة صياغة ذكية و مبدعة لهذه أسطورة من وجهة نظرة تركية مع دمج السياسية
فالدولة هي الاب و نظام السلطة في بلدان العربية .يعتبر نظام سياسي أبوي و تطعيمه بعبق الاسطورة و قصة العشق و كعادة .عبق استطنبول و شوراعها.
لنترك رواية قليلة.و اسمحوا لي أن أحدثكم عن خواطري مع أورهان
هذا روائي مبدع و مجتهد و يعشق سرد حكايا ..فمن غير اورهان سيجعل تتابع عملية حفر بئر بدقة و تستمع بحديث اسطى محمود
عن تجاربه .
رغم احترازاتي على بعض جمل و فقرات.لكن من إجحاف أن انكر موهبة الرجل و ابداعه
فلقد جعلتني اتتبع أسطورة رغم معرفتي كيف سنتنهي
و في أخير
هل تركيز اورهان على اهمية الاب و سلطة أب اعتباطي أم هو رد فعل واعية امام هجمات النسوبة التي نراها ؟
هل يا ترى فقدان الأب بشكل طبيعي الموت يزعزع كيان الرجل مثل لو هجره بالارادته؟
أردت لو تحدث عن مثال الأب و البنت لكن يبدو انه ترك ذلك لابنة بلده اليف و هو تحدث عن ما يمثله الاب لرجل
وقفت حائرة امام رواية لذلك..لن أقييم.
أورهان أشكرك كنت خير رفيق لي .
لست افكر في لقاءك
كأنه من جاء يدعوني 😄لكن انت من كتابي المفضلين ..
شكرا صديقي .
عاشق تركيا و اللون الاحمر 💟🌸
7/09/20 😊
March 15, 2021
منتها الیه بُهت
رمانی 255 صفحهای
در طول خواندن بارها حس و حالم نسبت بهش عوض شد
خوشم آمد / بدم آمد / و در پایان مبهوت شدم
نویسنده فوقالعاده نوشته بود هرچند در بخشهایی به خصوص اواسط کتاب من را یاد رهش امیرخانی انداخت و حس کردم نویسنده یک سری تحقیق داشته و میخواد بریزه وسط کتابش
اما به مرور دوباره کتاب اوج گرفت
واقعا مبهوتم و این بهت ناشی از قدرت کتاب بود و قصهای که نویسنده به خوبی ساخته و پرداخته کرده بود و در فصل پایانی ضربهای محکم به خواننده میزند. تحول شخصیتها و رشد آنها و موضوع روانشناسانه کتاب هم در خدمت داستان بود هرچند گاهی اغراق میشد اما در مجموع پسندیدم
تا به حال از پاموک کاری نخوانده بودم و این یک تجربه خوب بود
ترجمه خانم الفت هم خیلی روان و خوب بود و این خواندن کتاب را راحت کرده بود
رمانی 255 صفحهای
در طول خواندن بارها حس و حالم نسبت بهش عوض شد
خوشم آمد / بدم آمد / و در پایان مبهوت شدم
نویسنده فوقالعاده نوشته بود هرچند در بخشهایی به خصوص اواسط کتاب من را یاد رهش امیرخانی انداخت و حس کردم نویسنده یک سری تحقیق داشته و میخواد بریزه وسط کتابش
اما به مرور دوباره کتاب اوج گرفت
واقعا مبهوتم و این بهت ناشی از قدرت کتاب بود و قصهای که نویسنده به خوبی ساخته و پرداخته کرده بود و در فصل پایانی ضربهای محکم به خواننده میزند. تحول شخصیتها و رشد آنها و موضوع روانشناسانه کتاب هم در خدمت داستان بود هرچند گاهی اغراق میشد اما در مجموع پسندیدم
تا به حال از پاموک کاری نخوانده بودم و این یک تجربه خوب بود
ترجمه خانم الفت هم خیلی روان و خوب بود و این خواندن کتاب را راحت کرده بود
September 22, 2020
أول قرأة لأورهان باموق ومتحمسة جدا أكمل باقي أعماله ، رواية مبذول فيها جهد حقيقي واضح جداً ؛ الفكرة الأساسية للرواية هي موضوع التبني ، وليست علاقة الابوة فقط بين الابن والأب ، التبني كفرة بكل معانيها تبني الوطن ، تبني الثقافة والافكار تبني المهنة ايضاً ، أعجبني جدا عبقرية ربط قصة اوديب وقصة روستم بقصة حياة البطل ورسمه للشخصيات باتقان مذهل ، القسم الثالث للرواية وهو رؤية الاحداث بعين " ذات الشعر الأحمر " ده أفضل الاقسام بالنسبالي ، مأخذي عليها كثرة المعلومات عن حفر الآبار والطريقة التقنية للعمل في التنقيب أشعرني ببعض الملل في بداية الرواية .
" لذا قررت أن أتصرف وكأن شئ لم يحدث " الجملة البسيطة المتكررة دي علي لسان البطل -وهي معني ضمني لمعالجة كل مشاكل حياته وطريق سهل للتجاوز والنسيان -عيشته أكثر من نص عمره متجاهل حقيقة لو ادركها لغيرت مسار حياته بأكمله ؛ لن استخدمها ابداً بعد الأن 🙂
" لذا قررت أن أتصرف وكأن شئ لم يحدث " الجملة البسيطة المتكررة دي علي لسان البطل -وهي معني ضمني لمعالجة كل مشاكل حياته وطريق سهل للتجاوز والنسيان -عيشته أكثر من نص عمره متجاهل حقيقة لو ادركها لغيرت مسار حياته بأكمله ؛ لن استخدمها ابداً بعد الأن 🙂
May 10, 2022
غول زندهی ادبیات است این پاموک…
February 9, 2016
tam bir ustalık eseri gibi başlıyor roman. sade bir hikaye, yalın bir dil. baba-oğul, itaat-isyan, bağımlı olmak-birey olmak, otorite, özgürlük, hikayelerin-efsanelerin hayattaki yeri...romanın tüm meselesini hikayenin içinde göstermeyi/hissettirmeyi başaran birinci kısım eksilmeyen bir merak ve gerilimle bitiyor. hem heyecanla hem de derinleşerek devam edebilecek bu hikaye ikinci kısımla birlikte bambaşka bir hal alıyor maalesef.
ikinci kısımda uzun bir zaman dilimi hızla/aceleyle anlatılıyor, hatta özetleniyor. gösteren/hissettiren bir hikaye yok artık. doğrudan bilgi veren, tekrarlarla ilerleyen, dağınık, zaman zaman zorlayıcı ve didaktik bir üslup söz konusu. kısa roman yazmanın orhan pamuk'u neden ve nasıl zorladığını bu kısımda anlamak mümkün. bir yanda uzatma kaygısıyla vazgeçilen, eksik bırakılan, havada kalan yerler var. diğer yanda okura bırakılması gereken yerlerde uzatma ve gereksiz tekrarlar. özellikle iki efsane (kral oidipus ile rüstem ve sührab) hakkında hikayeden/akıştan bağımsız bir söyleve yer veriyor orhan pamuk. bu iki efsaneyi hikayenin merkezinde gösterdikten sonra okura bir alan bırakmaktansa, neredeyse söylenecek her şeyi söyleme çabasına girişiyor.
üçüncü ve son kısımda hikaye biraz daha dağıldıktan sonra hızla toparlama ve şaşırtıcı bir finalle noktalama yoluna giriyor. bu şaşırtıcılığın romanın ve özellikle birinci kısmın sahiciliğini-saflığını zedeleme pahasına yapılması çok şaşırtıcı. bu noktada, romanın ilk adının "kuyu" olduğunu belirtmek gerek. romanın ismiyle birlikte yapısını da değiştirmiş orhan pamuk. kırmızı saçlı kadın romanı hakkında dile getirilebilecek tüm olumsuzluklar bu değişiklikten kaynaklanıyor sanki. hatta doğrudan kırmızı saçlı kadından.
buna rağmen, söylenebilecek tüm olumsuzluklara rağmen, bu roman sadece ele aldığı baba-oğul meselesi için okunmayı, hatta tekrar tekrar okunmayı hak ediyor. orhan pamuk'un hayatından derin izler taşıdığı aşikar bu romanın çok içten, çok sahici, çok güçlü yanını hissetmek, derinliğine, karmaşasına kapılmak, düşünmek, sormak, sorgulamak için okunmalı.
ikinci kısımda uzun bir zaman dilimi hızla/aceleyle anlatılıyor, hatta özetleniyor. gösteren/hissettiren bir hikaye yok artık. doğrudan bilgi veren, tekrarlarla ilerleyen, dağınık, zaman zaman zorlayıcı ve didaktik bir üslup söz konusu. kısa roman yazmanın orhan pamuk'u neden ve nasıl zorladığını bu kısımda anlamak mümkün. bir yanda uzatma kaygısıyla vazgeçilen, eksik bırakılan, havada kalan yerler var. diğer yanda okura bırakılması gereken yerlerde uzatma ve gereksiz tekrarlar. özellikle iki efsane (kral oidipus ile rüstem ve sührab) hakkında hikayeden/akıştan bağımsız bir söyleve yer veriyor orhan pamuk. bu iki efsaneyi hikayenin merkezinde gösterdikten sonra okura bir alan bırakmaktansa, neredeyse söylenecek her şeyi söyleme çabasına girişiyor.
üçüncü ve son kısımda hikaye biraz daha dağıldıktan sonra hızla toparlama ve şaşırtıcı bir finalle noktalama yoluna giriyor. bu şaşırtıcılığın romanın ve özellikle birinci kısmın sahiciliğini-saflığını zedeleme pahasına yapılması çok şaşırtıcı. bu noktada, romanın ilk adının "kuyu" olduğunu belirtmek gerek. romanın ismiyle birlikte yapısını da değiştirmiş orhan pamuk. kırmızı saçlı kadın romanı hakkında dile getirilebilecek tüm olumsuzluklar bu değişiklikten kaynaklanıyor sanki. hatta doğrudan kırmızı saçlı kadından.
buna rağmen, söylenebilecek tüm olumsuzluklara rağmen, bu roman sadece ele aldığı baba-oğul meselesi için okunmayı, hatta tekrar tekrar okunmayı hak ediyor. orhan pamuk'un hayatından derin izler taşıdığı aşikar bu romanın çok içten, çok sahici, çok güçlü yanını hissetmek, derinliğine, karmaşasına kapılmak, düşünmek, sormak, sorgulamak için okunmalı.
September 30, 2017
I'm a huge fan of the soulful and brilliant Turkish Nobel Prize winning novelist Orhan Pamuk. So when I heard he had a new release (published in the U.S. last month), I got my hands on it as soon as possible.
I loved The Red-Haired Woman, an alluring tale of a teenager who is hired as the apprentice of a master welldigger to find water on a barren plain on the outskirts of Istanbul. During his time on the job, he meets a beautiful red-haired woman. His affair with her transforms him in unimaginable ways. I loved Pamuk's intimate storytelling, his stunning prose filled with poetic, dreamlike musings and old Persian and Greek literature, which he weaves into his narrative. Orhan Pamuk's books are as high quality as modern literature gets-- fine dining on the bookshelf!
This is the fourth book of his that I have read and I'm beginning to see a recurring theme of heartbreak, lost Iove and longing. I wonder if Pamuk had his heart broken in his youth! Some writers have said that if you want to become a novelist-- go out and get your heart broken! Well if this the case for Pamuk, it worked out for him! Heartbreak or no heartbreak, whenever I read a book by him, I always feel like I'm reading a classic, though it is not a classic, as he is still alive!
Below is a snapshot of his stunning prose:
"The purple peaks toward the Black Sea had assumed a strange blue shade, and the rare clumps of trees among the drab, jaundiced plots in the plains behind the mountains seemed particularly green...it was all beautiful, and a part of me knew that the reason I felt this way was that beautiful red-haired woman I had just seen standing in the doorway of her house."
I loved The Red-Haired Woman, an alluring tale of a teenager who is hired as the apprentice of a master welldigger to find water on a barren plain on the outskirts of Istanbul. During his time on the job, he meets a beautiful red-haired woman. His affair with her transforms him in unimaginable ways. I loved Pamuk's intimate storytelling, his stunning prose filled with poetic, dreamlike musings and old Persian and Greek literature, which he weaves into his narrative. Orhan Pamuk's books are as high quality as modern literature gets-- fine dining on the bookshelf!
This is the fourth book of his that I have read and I'm beginning to see a recurring theme of heartbreak, lost Iove and longing. I wonder if Pamuk had his heart broken in his youth! Some writers have said that if you want to become a novelist-- go out and get your heart broken! Well if this the case for Pamuk, it worked out for him! Heartbreak or no heartbreak, whenever I read a book by him, I always feel like I'm reading a classic, though it is not a classic, as he is still alive!
Below is a snapshot of his stunning prose:
"The purple peaks toward the Black Sea had assumed a strange blue shade, and the rare clumps of trees among the drab, jaundiced plots in the plains behind the mountains seemed particularly green...it was all beautiful, and a part of me knew that the reason I felt this way was that beautiful red-haired woman I had just seen standing in the doorway of her house."
Read
June 22, 2020রবীন্দ্রনাথের একদম শেষের দিকে উপন্যাসগুলোয় একটা ব্যাপার খেয়াল করা যায়। মনে হয়, যেন সমস্ত ডালপালা ছেঁটে দিয়ে, কেবল নিটোল গল্পটাই উপস্থাপন করেছেন তিনি।
পামুকের উপন্যাসের সৌন্দর্য্য, আ���ার মনে হয়, তার আবিষ্কার করা প্রতীকগুলোয়। তার উপন্যাসগুলো ডালপালা ছড়িয়ে দিয়ে গল্প বলে এমন সব প্রতীক দিয়ে, যেগুলো খুবই অস্বচ্ছ, যেগুলোর অনুবাদ অনেকভাবে করা যায়। কিন্তু ‘দা রেড হেয়ারড ওম্যান’ উপন্যাসে, পামুকের প্রতীকগুলো অতটা জটিল হয়ে ওঠেনি। এবং সে কারণেই, উপন্যাসটা ভারি উপভোগ্য। নিজের অন্য উপন্যাসের তুলনায় স্বল্পায়তন এই বইতে, পামুকও যেন রবীন্দ্রনাথের মতো মূল গল্পটা অক্ষুণ্ণ রেখেছেন শুধু।
একদিকে ফেরদৌসীর শাহনামার সোহরাব রুস্তম, অন্যদিকে সফোক্লিসের ইদিপাস; আমাদের খুব চেনা দুটো কাহিনিকেই পামুক এই উপন্যাসে সাজিয়েছেন আধুনিক করে।
পিতাকে, খুব সহজ করে বলতে গেলে, আধিপত্য বা কর্তৃত্বের প্রতীক হিসাবে দেখিয়েছেন পামুক। কিন্তু ���ার বর্ণনায় পিতা আর পুত্রের বিরোধটা হয়ে ওঠে আরো বিস্তৃত। তার বয়ানে পিতা আর পুত্রের ব্যক্তিত্বের দ্বন্দ্ব হয়ে ওঠে মেট্রোপলিস ইস্তানবুলের সাথে প্রাদেশিক কোনো মফস্বলের দ্বন্দ্ব, সেক্যুলার নাগরিকদের সাথে ধর্মভীরু দেশবাসীর দ্বন্দ্ব, উদারমনা রাজনীতির সাথে কর্তৃত্বের দ্বন্দ্ব; এবং অবশ্যই, পাশ্চাত্যের মনের সাথে প্রাচ্যর হৃদয়ের দ্বন্দ্ব।
পামুকের উপন্যাসের সৌন্দর্য্য, আ���ার মনে হয়, তার আবিষ্কার করা প্রতীকগুলোয়। তার উপন্যাসগুলো ডালপালা ছড়িয়ে দিয়ে গল্প বলে এমন সব প্রতীক দিয়ে, যেগুলো খুবই অস্বচ্ছ, যেগুলোর অনুবাদ অনেকভাবে করা যায়। কিন্তু ‘দা রেড হেয়ারড ওম্যান’ উপন্যাসে, পামুকের প্রতীকগুলো অতটা জটিল হয়ে ওঠেনি। এবং সে কারণেই, উপন্যাসটা ভারি উপভোগ্য। নিজের অন্য উপন্যাসের তুলনায় স্বল্পায়তন এই বইতে, পামুকও যেন রবীন্দ্রনাথের মতো মূল গল্পটা অক্ষুণ্ণ রেখেছেন শুধু।
একদিকে ফেরদৌসীর শাহনামার সোহরাব রুস্তম, অন্যদিকে সফোক্লিসের ইদিপাস; আমাদের খুব চেনা দুটো কাহিনিকেই পামুক এই উপন্যাসে সাজিয়েছেন আধুনিক করে।
পিতাকে, খুব সহজ করে বলতে গেলে, আধিপত্য বা কর্তৃত্বের প্রতীক হিসাবে দেখিয়েছেন পামুক। কিন্তু ���ার বর্ণনায় পিতা আর পুত্রের বিরোধটা হয়ে ওঠে আরো বিস্তৃত। তার বয়ানে পিতা আর পুত্রের ব্যক্তিত্বের দ্বন্দ্ব হয়ে ওঠে মেট্রোপলিস ইস্তানবুলের সাথে প্রাদেশিক কোনো মফস্বলের দ্বন্দ্ব, সেক্যুলার নাগরিকদের সাথে ধর্মভীরু দেশবাসীর দ্বন্দ্ব, উদারমনা রাজনীতির সাথে কর্তৃত্বের দ্বন্দ্ব; এবং অবশ্যই, পাশ্চাত্যের মনের সাথে প্রাচ্যর হৃদয়ের দ্বন্দ্ব।
January 17, 2017
Както обикновено ми е трудно да започна ревюто си за книга на Орхан Памук. Не защото ми е сложен, не защото съм заслепена от фенщина (обичам го, но не безпаметно и идолопоклоннически, а осъзнато и разумно като за 4 звезди, колкото най-често му давам). „Червенокосата” обаче е толкова различен роман от неговото обчайно писане и същевременно толкова тясно вплетен в света на митологемите му, че не е лесно да бъде правдиво описан.
От една страна е неразривно свързан с неизменния за него червен цвят и започва от дъното на кладенеца, където оставихме действието в „Името ми е червен”. Отново сме в Истанбул, но градът тук е само фон на случващото се, а не обичайното за Памук действащо лице, отново имаме поглед към един отмрял и специфичен занаят – копаенето на кладенци. Но тук започват необичайните за Памук неща – малък обем на творбата, който не позволява детайлно разгръщане на света на героите (бил той вътрешен или заобикалящ ги) под формата на характерния за бавното източно писане епос. Действието се развива бързо, във втората част на книгата героят вече е преуспял бизнесмен в съвременността. Нямам спомен някога Памук дори най-бегло да е обърщал внимание на преуспелите хора, но все пак не съм чела всичките му книги. Самият стил на писане също е различен. По-стегнати и къси изречения, някаква задъханост на изказа, която на мен ми хареса. Тематиката разбира се е сложна и тежка, но не е заровена под пластове алегории, няма нужда да копаем до дъното на кладенеца. Този път Памук ни е оставил идеите си съвсем съзнателно на повърхността. Западната традиция (Едип цар) и източната (Шах-наме) са тук, за да се преплетат и да ни покажат, че всъщност не са толкова далеч една от друга. Че синовете и бащите се въртят в един и същ омагьосан кръг, независимо дали крачат по площадите на Древна Елада, живеят в дворците на могъща Персия или са част от съврменения мегаполис Истанбул. И финалът, разбира се финалът – толкова закономерен и толкова в стил Памук.
Ще попитате: „А къде е Червенокосата?” Тя е навсякъде и никъде. Тя е тънката червена нишка, която пресича цялото действие и оста около, която се завърта то. Вдъхновението за нея идва от кратината на прерафаелита Росети „Дама купа” (The Queen of Hearts/Regina Cordium), една от чиито скици е и корица на книгата. Защото всеки от нас има своята Червенокоса и частица изкуство, което го пали. Или поне би трябвало да е така.
Книгата излезе съвсем наскоро и в общи линии раздели прочелите я на два лагера. Дългогодишните му верни фенове, които са свикнали и обичат сладкодумното му бавно многословие и разгръщането на историята на внушителен брой страници не са особено доволни о�� новата му стегната проза, побрана в скромните 288 листа. От друга страна обаче тези, които по една или друга причина не са посягали към творчеството на Памук до сега заради тежката титла Нобелов лауреат и не по-леката тематика на книгите му, в лицето на „Червенокосата” с радост откриват дълбока, но четивна исторя, която се движи бързо, но не е обикновена еднодневка.
Лично аз много харесах този нов завой в писането на Памук, несъмнено повлиян донякъде от западната традиция. Обичам, когато известните автори не влизат кротко в коловза на своите навици и очаквания към тях, а са различни в почти всеки свой отделен роман. За мен това е признак на истински талант и на желание за непрекъснато развитие. Това че имаш Нобелова награда не ти осигурява автоматично купища читатели или добри продажби. Напротив, тъкмо в България голяма част от сериозните награждавани автори, просто не успяват да грабнат вниманието на публиката. Орхан Памук обаче е трайно изключение от тази тенденция. И съм убедена, че когато и да дойде следващият му роман (след една или след десет години) той отново ще бъде различен и очакван.
От една страна е неразривно свързан с неизменния за него червен цвят и започва от дъното на кладенеца, където оставихме действието в „Името ми е червен”. Отново сме в Истанбул, но градът тук е само фон на случващото се, а не обичайното за Памук действащо лице, отново имаме поглед към един отмрял и специфичен занаят – копаенето на кладенци. Но тук започват необичайните за Памук неща – малък обем на творбата, който не позволява детайлно разгръщане на света на героите (бил той вътрешен или заобикалящ ги) под формата на характерния за бавното източно писане епос. Действието се развива бързо, във втората част на книгата героят вече е преуспял бизнесмен в съвременността. Нямам спомен някога Памук дори най-бегло да е обърщал внимание на преуспелите хора, но все пак не съм чела всичките му книги. Самият стил на писане също е различен. По-стегнати и къси изречения, някаква задъханост на изказа, която на мен ми хареса. Тематиката разбира се е сложна и тежка, но не е заровена под пластове алегории, няма нужда да копаем до дъното на кладенеца. Този път Памук ни е оставил идеите си съвсем съзнателно на повърхността. Западната традиция (Едип цар) и източната (Шах-наме) са тук, за да се преплетат и да ни покажат, че всъщност не са толкова далеч една от друга. Че синовете и бащите се въртят в един и същ омагьосан кръг, независимо дали крачат по площадите на Древна Елада, живеят в дворците на могъща Персия или са част от съврменения мегаполис Истанбул. И финалът, разбира се финалът – толкова закономерен и толкова в стил Памук.
Ще попитате: „А къде е Червенокосата?” Тя е навсякъде и никъде. Тя е тънката червена нишка, която пресича цялото действие и оста около, която се завърта то. Вдъхновението за нея идва от кратината на прерафаелита Росети „Дама купа” (The Queen of Hearts/Regina Cordium), една от чиито скици е и корица на книгата. Защото всеки от нас има своята Червенокоса и частица изкуство, което го пали. Или поне би трябвало да е така.
Книгата излезе съвсем наскоро и в общи линии раздели прочелите я на два лагера. Дългогодишните му верни фенове, които са свикнали и обичат сладкодумното му бавно многословие и разгръщането на историята на внушителен брой страници не са особено доволни о�� новата му стегната проза, побрана в скромните 288 листа. От друга страна обаче тези, които по една или друга причина не са посягали към творчеството на Памук до сега заради тежката титла Нобелов лауреат и не по-леката тематика на книгите му, в лицето на „Червенокосата” с радост откриват дълбока, но четивна исторя, която се движи бързо, но не е обикновена еднодневка.
Лично аз много харесах този нов завой в писането на Памук, несъмнено повлиян донякъде от западната традиция. Обичам, когато известните автори не влизат кротко в коловза на своите навици и очаквания към тях, а са различни в почти всеки свой отделен роман. За мен това е признак на истински талант и на желание за непрекъснато развитие. Това че имаш Нобелова награда не ти осигурява автоматично купища читатели или добри продажби. Напротив, тъкмо в България голяма част от сериозните награждавани автори, просто не успяват да грабнат вниманието на публиката. Орхан Памук обаче е трайно изключение от тази тенденция. И съм убедена, че когато и да дойде следващият му роман (след една или след десет години) той отново ще бъде различен и очакван.
August 2, 2019
3,5*
Για μένα ο Ορχάν Παμούκ κρατάει μια ιδιαίτερη θέση στην αναγνωστική μου πορεία, ρομαντική θέση, κυρίως εξαιτίας του Μουσείου της Αθωότητας που όσο κι αν ήταν υπερβολικά μακροσκελές, μου είχε αρέσει τόσο πολύ με συναισθηματικό αποκορύφωμα την επίσκεψη του ίδιου του Μουσείου στην Κωνσταντινούπολη. Αλλά αυτό είναι μια άλλη ιστορία. Το αναφέρω απλώς για να πω ότι για τα βιβλία του Παμούκ πάντα θα είμαι θετικά και αγαπησιάρικα προσκείμενη, γιατί πάντα έχουν κάτι που μου αρέσει, στο βάθος.
Η γυναίκα με τα κόκκινα μαλλιά είναι ένα ενδιαφέρον βιβλίο. Είναι γοητευτικός ο τρόπος που πλέκονται οι ιστορίες μεταξύ τους, μυστήριος, είχα μεγάλη διάθεση να δω τι θα γίνει στη συνέχεια, οπότε το διάβασα με ευχαρίστηση. Είχα συνεχώς την αίσθηση ότι παρακολουθώ με αγωνία έναν μύθο ή ένα παραμύθι, οπότε είχα συνεχώς την απορία να δω αν θα είχε καλό τέλος, όπως γίνεται πάντα στα παραμύθια, ή όχι, και αυτό με ιντρίγκαρε. Είχε πολλές ψυχαναλυτικές διαδρομές, μυστηριακά σοκάκια ορμώμενα από δυο σημαντικούς μύθους Δύσης και Ανατολής (Οιδίποδας τύραννος και Ρουστέμ και Σουχράμπ), αριστοτεχνικό πλέξιμο μύθου και πραγματικότητας. Όμως δεν κατάφερα να απογειωθώ και δε νομίζω πως ήταν από τα βιβλία που θα θυμάμαι για καιρό.
Για μένα ο Ορχάν Παμούκ κρατάει μια ιδιαίτερη θέση στην αναγνωστική μου πορεία, ρομαντική θέση, κυρίως εξαιτίας του Μουσείου της Αθωότητας που όσο κι αν ήταν υπερβολικά μακροσκελές, μου είχε αρέσει τόσο πολύ με συναισθηματικό αποκορύφωμα την επίσκεψη του ίδιου του Μουσείου στην Κωνσταντινούπολη. Αλλά αυτό είναι μια άλλη ιστορία. Το αναφέρω απλώς για να πω ότι για τα βιβλία του Παμούκ πάντα θα είμαι θετικά και αγαπησιάρικα προσκείμενη, γιατί πάντα έχουν κάτι που μου αρέσει, στο βάθος.
Η γυναίκα με τα κόκκινα μαλλιά είναι ένα ενδιαφέρον βιβλίο. Είναι γοητευτικός ο τρόπος που πλέκονται οι ιστορίες μεταξύ τους, μυστήριος, είχα μεγάλη διάθεση να δω τι θα γίνει στη συνέχεια, οπότε το διάβασα με ευχαρίστηση. Είχα συνεχώς την αίσθηση ότι παρακολουθώ με αγωνία έναν μύθο ή ένα παραμύθι, οπότε είχα συνεχώς την απορία να δω αν θα είχε καλό τέλος, όπως γίνεται πάντα στα παραμύθια, ή όχι, και αυτό με ιντρίγκαρε. Είχε πολλές ψυχαναλυτικές διαδρομές, μυστηριακά σοκάκια ορμώμενα από δυο σημαντικούς μύθους Δύσης και Ανατολής (Οιδίποδας τύραννος και Ρουστέμ και Σουχράμπ), αριστοτεχνικό πλέξιμο μύθου και πραγματικότητας. Όμως δεν κατάφερα να απογειωθώ και δε νομίζω πως ήταν από τα βιβλία που θα θυμάμαι για καιρό.
May 1, 2020
رواية جميلة!
مدهشة قدرة "أورهان باموق" على حبك رواياته.
هل الحياة بواقعها الذي يفوق الخيال هي من يبثّ الحياة في الأساطير؟ أم أن الأساطير تصنعنا بخبثٍ وعلى مهل، إلى أن نعيد تمثيلها مثل روبوتات مبرمجة؟
تدور رواية "ذات الشعر الأحمر" حول العلاقة بين الأب والابن. تلك العلاقة الأزلية، والقصة المتكررة أبدًا. تتردد فصولها دومًا ما بين الاحتياج والعبء، والارتباط والانفصال، والبقاء والقتل!
فالأب يحتاج ابنه امتدادًا، والابن يحتاج أباه محور ارتكاز. لكنّ الطاعة والانقياد عبء، وتحمّل معصية الانفصال عبء آخر. رغبة في البقاء والامتداد، ورغبة في القتل والتجاوز.
يستلهم الكاتب قصتي أوديب قاتل أبيه، و سهراب قتيل أبيه، وهما قصتان متقابلتان من الشرق والغرب، وينسج قصته التي تستدير ببراعة وجمال وإتقان.
كما يوسّع الكاتب في ثنايا روايته مفاهيم الأبوة والبنوة لتشمل الأبوة/البنوة الثقافية والسياسية والأبوة المهنية والمعنوية.ولتشمل الحالة التركية الخاصة جدًا، ما بين شرق وغرب، وأصالة وحداثة، وفي كلّ أبوّة نرى ذات المفارقة التي يعيشها أبطال الرواية، وعاشها إلى منتهاها كلّ من أوديب وسهراب ووالديهما.
ومن ذكاء الرواية أن نسمعها في النهاية باختصار، من زاوية الشخص الأقلّ حضوراً والأكثر ألماً فيها، صوتُ الزوجة / الأمّ. ذات الشعر الأحمر هنا.
مدهشة قدرة "أورهان باموق" على حبك رواياته.
هل الحياة بواقعها الذي يفوق الخيال هي من يبثّ الحياة في الأساطير؟ أم أن الأساطير تصنعنا بخبثٍ وعلى مهل، إلى أن نعيد تمثيلها مثل روبوتات مبرمجة؟
تدور رواية "ذات الشعر الأحمر" حول العلاقة بين الأب والابن. تلك العلاقة الأزلية، والقصة المتكررة أبدًا. تتردد فصولها دومًا ما بين الاحتياج والعبء، والارتباط والانفصال، والبقاء والقتل!
فالأب يحتاج ابنه امتدادًا، والابن يحتاج أباه محور ارتكاز. لكنّ الطاعة والانقياد عبء، وتحمّل معصية الانفصال عبء آخر. رغبة في البقاء والامتداد، ورغبة في القتل والتجاوز.
يستلهم الكاتب قصتي أوديب قاتل أبيه، و سهراب قتيل أبيه، وهما قصتان متقابلتان من الشرق والغرب، وينسج قصته التي تستدير ببراعة وجمال وإتقان.
كما يوسّع الكاتب في ثنايا روايته مفاهيم الأبوة والبنوة لتشمل الأبوة/البنوة الثقافية والسياسية والأبوة المهنية والمعنوية.ولتشمل الحالة التركية الخاصة جدًا، ما بين شرق وغرب، وأصالة وحداثة، وفي كلّ أبوّة نرى ذات المفارقة التي يعيشها أبطال الرواية، وعاشها إلى منتهاها كلّ من أوديب وسهراب ووالديهما.
ومن ذكاء الرواية أن نسمعها في النهاية باختصار، من زاوية الشخص الأقلّ حضوراً والأكثر ألماً فيها، صوتُ الزوجة / الأمّ. ذات الشعر الأحمر هنا.
November 27, 2020
Orhan Pamuk'un artık anlamadığı konular ve içine girmediği toplum kesimleri hakkında atıp tutmaktan(yazmak diyemiyorum, dilim varmıyor) vazgeçmesi gerektiğini d��şünüyorum. Son iki kitabı Türkler icin degil sanki sadece yabancılar icin yazılmış. Kuyuculardan ya da bozacılardan adeta mitolojik karakterler gibi bahsediyor. İçinde olmadığı bir dünyanın tasvirini kulaktan dolma bilgilerle yahut okuduklarından esinlenerek yazıyor olmalı. Üstelik bunu (bence) oldukça küstah bir dil kullanarak yapıyor. Bahsettiği insanların ahlaki ve kültürel hassasiyetlerine aşina değilken kendince sag-sol eleştirileri, inanc sistemleri üzerine analizler yapıyor. Eğreti bir kitap. En azından "Kafamda Bir Tuhaflık" kadar uzun değildi de ömrümden giden süre azaldı.
İki yıldız vermemin tek sebebi bir roman olarak dümdüz ve verilmeye çalışılan mesajlara takılmadan okunduğunda tahammül edilemeyecek kadar kötü olmaması. Bana göre 1 yıldız tahammül edilemeyecek kitapları niteliyor.
İki yıldız vermemin tek sebebi bir roman olarak dümdüz ve verilmeye çalışılan mesajlara takılmadan okunduğunda tahammül edilemeyecek kadar kötü olmaması. Bana göre 1 yıldız tahammül edilemeyecek kitapları niteliyor.
February 27, 2019
روایت پسرجوانی که ازپدرش دورمی افتد وبه همکاری با مردی چاه کن میپردازد .این شروع داستان است . داستانهای ادیپ و رستم وسهراب، پدرکشی وپسرکشی بارها توصیف و تشریح ومورداستفاده قرارمیگیرد . داستانهای فرعی شهراستانبول شباهتهایی به تهران دارد. توسعه شهر و ساختمان سازیها..زدوبندها..توصیفات مراحل کندن چاه به نظرم زیاده ازحد است. قسمت مربوط به ازدواج وبعدازازدواج قهرمان داستان هم به نظرم ضعیف است . داستان رفته رفته ضعیف ترمیشود وبه پاورقی ها ی مجلات قدیمی و سریالهای رایج ترکی شبیه میگردد. داستان کندن چاه آب و..مرابه یاد فیلم سینمایی "درخت گلابی وحشی " ازترکیه انداخت که درآن هم حفرچاه آب قسمت مهمی از فیلم بود.
June 10, 2017
نیمه اول کتاب: خیلی خوب
نیمه دوم کتاب: متوسط
پایان بندی کتاب: ضعیف
مقایسه شهر در قدیم و جدید هم جالب بود، وقتی صحبت از تخریب خانه های قدیمی و بجای اون ساخت پاساژ، رستوران و اینها شد
به یاد شهرهای بزرگ ایران میفتیم که چه خونه های باصفای قدیمی ای تخریب و جاشون رو به برج و آپارتمان و پاساژ میدن
:تصویر تابلوی معروف اشاره شده در کتاب
(اثر دانته گابرییل روستی)
نیمه دوم کتاب: متوسط
پایان بندی کتاب: ضعیف
مقایسه شهر در قدیم و جدید هم جالب بود، وقتی صحبت از تخریب خانه های قدیمی و بجای اون ساخت پاساژ، رستوران و اینها شد
به یاد شهرهای بزرگ ایران میفتیم که چه خونه های باصفای قدیمی ای تخریب و جاشون رو به برج و آپارتمان و پاساژ میدن
:تصویر تابلوی معروف اشاره شده در کتاب
(اثر دانته گابرییل روستی)
April 30, 2023
But sometimes a veil of melancholy and loneliness would descend upon us, and we would take refuge even from each other, terrified by the sheer size of the world and fed up with our place in it. I understood in those moments how difficult it is to empathize with anyone, to truly know another and commune with their soul—even when the person in question was Enver, the one I loved most in life.
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