Orhan Pamuk’s Nobel Lecture
A couple of weeks ago, Orhan Pamuk delivered his Nobel lecture at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. Titled “Babamin bavulu,” which translates as “My Father’s Suitcase,” it’s about Pamuk’s relationship with his father, a man who loved to read and hoped to be a writer, but in the end preferred to enjoy life rather than devote himself fully to the craft. Pamuk , of course, followed his calling and, in his speech, passionately speaks about his love for literature. It is quite evident from Pamuk’s speech that he firmly believes in the influencing power of the written word.
I believe literature to be the most valuable tool that humanity has found in its quest to understand itself. Societies, tribes, and peoples grow more intelligent, richer, and more advanced as they pay attention to the troubled words of their authors–and, as we all know, the burning of books and the denigration of writers are both signs that dark and improvident times are upon us. But literature is never just a national concern. The writer who shuts himself up in a room and goes on a journey inside himself will, over the years, discover literature’s eternal rule: he must have the artistry to tell his own stories as if they were other people’s stories, and to tell other people’s stories as if they were his own, for that is what literature is.
Orhan Pamuk’s lecture, originally in Turkish, can be found in the English-language version here, reprinted in the New Yorker magazine.