Orhan Pamuk

The Turkish author gives us an Istanbul that is both ancient and modern

Comments (0) By Bob Ruggiero Thursday, Nov 12 2009

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It's not every day that Houston hosts a Nobel Prize winner, but the Bayou City will get a chance to see one in the flesh when Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk - who won for Literature in 2006 - reads from his new novel The Museum of Innocence. The book, like much of his work, is set in Istanbul, and it charts an upper-class man's adoration of his distant, but poor, cousin. "The obsessive pitfalls of romantic love is a different theme for Pamuk," says Rich Levy of Inprint, the event's co-sponsor. "I'm drawn to Pamuk's work because to me it transports me to a city and a part of the world I've never visited, and to historical moments I now have a deeper understanding of." The city itself is also a major character. Levy explains the book's Istanbul is a nexus of modern and ancient cultures. "There are echoes of the Ottoman Empire alongside Prada shops and the ping of cell phones." 7 p.m. Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For information, call 713-521-2026 or visit www.inprinthouston.org. $30 (includes a pre-signed book).
Mon., Nov. 16, 7 p.m., 2009