SNOW : DILEMMA OF MODERNITY AS ENCOUNTERED BY ORHAN PAMUK

{Part of Discussion on an original Post on March 08 ,2009 by me in a web discussion forum }
Contemporary dilemma of modernity/westernization/universalization
vis a vis third worldly crisis of identity is so beautifully
illustrated in Orhan Pamuk's Snow. How the modernist ambitions of
the sixties in Turkey under Kemal Pasha ended up in grave political
and social crises after two generations of ruthless secularizing
project is the theme of the novel. Snow appears as a motif everywhere
in this wonderful novel, symbolizing suspicion,terror, insecurity,
instability in the minds of people. New generation of Radical
Islamists pledge to end old secularists' slavish adherence to western
norms on the one side, and contemporary ways of the state machinery
in suppressing faith by employing the crudest and treacherous methods
of army, intelligence and and police, on the other. Anything
associated with the West is asked to be seen as malice and ruthlessly
revolted upon. In the novel, Contemporary Turkey is represented not
only as the geographical fault line in this Euro- Asian conflict,
but also is chronologically mapped as the site of disillusionment of a
whole new generation with the pursuit of modernity. Pamuk rather than
being able to take sides, speaks out his dilemma through the
protagonist Ka, a Western educated young poet and journalist who
revisits Istambul in late 90s after years of stay in a European city.
My point here in the discussion, is just making a reference to
Pamuk's experience of engaging with this dichotomy as a creative
writer and particularly point to his implicit suggestion that he is
at a time, both an insider and outsider of both these worlds.This is
also suggestive of how genuinely creative people like to encounter
these dilemmas just as they are existing and without being prejudiced
by the ways people perceive the reality of their existence the
contemporary world everywhere. Posted by
Venu K.M