The Prestigious Status of Istanbul in Orhan Pamuk’s Literary Form

Love of the homeland is an innate instinct on which the human being was created. It is not strange that the individual loves his country in which he was born and raised and feels nostalgic for it when he/she leaves it to another state, so that is proof of the close relationship and the sincerity of belonging. Pamuk's passion for Istanbul is remarkable, and he is vitalist in portraying it in his literature. Mostly, all of Pamuk's novel plots are settled in Istanbul, but Pamuk's autobiographical novel Istanbul: Memories and The City gives much more about Pamuk's feelings towards his native city. It is devoted to both his memories from his childhood and Istanbul as a city and its meaning in his life as a writer. The book is composed of memories and emotions that have shaped his life forever. As a skillful painter, Pamuk's concepts and perspectives of Istanbul are unique. He composes that there was no Ottoman painting that can undoubtedly oblige our visual tastes because we have been educated to view things in an alternate Western style. He is attracted to Antoine Melling, the eighteen-century painter, who "viewed the city as an Istanbuli, however, painted it as a reasonable looked at Westerner" (Pamuk, Istanbul: Memories and the City, 67). This paper will attempt to outline and discuss the significant status of Istanbul in Orhan Pamuk's writing, how he represents his close connection with it, and how he made Istanbul the story field of his novels. It also will focus on the importance of the geographical location of Istanbul as the center of the bridge of different cultures, religions, and ethnicities, which leads to conflict or coexistence.