From today's Chronicle, an interview with novelist Orhan Pamuk:
It's arguably the most acclaimed novel of the year. In August alone, "Snow" was lauded in the pages of the New Yorker (by John Updike, no less) and on the cover of the New York Times Book Review (by Margaret Atwood). Two months earlier, even President Bush lavished praise on the book's author, saying Orhan Pamuk "has been a bridge between cultures."
Pamuk is both happy and irritated -- happy because, at age 52, he's accomplished what no Turkish novelist ever has: Fame and fortune at home and abroad, writing about characters who are sandwiched by the influence of East and West. Pamuk's irritation is visible when Bush's comments are mentioned. Sitting in a San Francisco cafe, Pamuk searches for a diplomatic way of saying the president was out of bounds when he spoke at a NATO meeting in Istanbul. Finally, Pamuk settles on a direct response.
"His speechwriters pulled things from my articles in which I said, in effect, that one thing we have to learn about civilization is that people are the same everywhere -- and that this (should bring) peace," Pamuk says. "But Bush has never acted this way. With the Iraq war, he made regular citizens of Islamic countries full of resentment against the U.S. and the West. I never wanted this. All my art is based on (the premise) that East and West can get together."
To which I'd add: I read The Black Book, one of his earlier novels. It took me two attempts to do so. It is brilliant, but extremely confusing to me. Postmodern doesn't even begin to cover it. There is no way in hell that Bush even read the back cover, much less any of his books.
