AN IDENTITARY DISCOURSE OF PERIPHERY: “ISTANBUL. MEMORIES AND THE CITY” BY ORHAN PAMUK
AN IDENTITARY DISCOURSE OF PERIPHERY: “ISTANBUL. MEMORIES AND THE CITY” BY ORHAN PAMUK

Summary/Abstract: Reconfiguration of the self through memory, an autobiographical narrative brings forth the numerous windings of a life, as the author, who is in this particular case the same instance as the narrator and the main character of the narrative, chooses to recount. The autobiography and the memoir, literary genres that depict personal, subjective life stories, have similar characteristics and cannot always be distinguished using a strict delimitation. The aim of this paper is to take a close look at the configuration of a picturesque autobiographical discourse oscillating between the two genres and belonging to a minor literature, the Turkish one.“Istanbul. Memories and the city” by Orhan Pamuk not only evokes a certain period in the writer's life, but looks upon the history of a strange city, managing to recollect its “memories” as well. The singularity of this discourse is that the history of the city cannot possibly be separated from the author's self-perception and life experiences: the destinies of the two coincide.

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