Pamuk en Scandinavie

Abstract

In the morning of October 12, 2006, I got a telephone call from the Norwegian publishing house Gyldendal, which has published all Orhan Pamuk’s novels (I had by then translated three of them) and was asked to watch the TV news at noon, and to stay available for the rest of the day. At noon, Horace Engdahl, the head of the Swedish Academy, eventually appeared on the news and announced that the Nobel prize of literature was awarded to Orhan Pamuk, who, as he said, “in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures.” I was not completely surprised, not only because of the call from the publisher, but also because OP had been the favourite candidate of the Norwegian and Swedish press. I was filled with an utmost joy because I thought Orhan deserved the prize so much. I was the called by the biggest Norwegian TV station and gave an interview there, and then hurried home again in order to check out the reactions in Turkey. [...] Cahier de L’Herne Pamuk. © 2017 Editions de L’Hern