Snow

Orhan Pamuk
He was born on June 7, 1952, in Istanbul, Turkey. He comes from a wealthy and educated
family, with his father being an engineer and his mother a homemaker. Pamuk initially studied
architecture at Istanbul Technical University but later switched to journalism and took literature
courses at the University of Istanbul.

His literary career began with the publication of his first novel, "Cevdet Bey and His
Sons," in 1982. However, it was his third novel, "The White Castle," that gained international
attention. Over the years, Pamuk continued to produce acclaimed works, exploring the
intersection of East and West, modernity and tradition.

In 2006, Orhan Pamuk was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first
Turkish author to receive this prestigious honor. His novels, including "My Name is Red,"
"Snow," and "The Museum of Innocence," have been translated into numerous languages,
contributing to his global recognition as a significant contemporary literary figure.

Orhan Pamuk's works often explore themes such as identity, the clash between East and
West, the complexities of modernity, and the interplay between tradition and change.
Additionally, his novels frequently delve into the intricacies of love, loneliness, and the search
for meaning in a rapidly evolving world. Pamuk's unique narrative style often weaves together
historical and cultural elements, creating a rich tapestry of themes that resonate with readers on
both a personal and societal level.

About the Novel

Snow is a novel by Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, originally written in Turkish in 2002. Two
years later in 2004, it was translated into English by Maureen Freely and published for an
Anglophone audience.

The novel—which follows a Turkish poet named Ka as he returns from exile in Germany
and travels to the rural town of Kars—is at once satirical, detached, and empathetic with the
characters whose lives it depicts. Ka is ostensibly in town to write about the suicide of many
young girls who were banned from wearing their religious headscarves in secular, government-
run schools, but he is really there to rediscover shattered fragments of his own youth and
reconnect with a woman he loves, Ipek. As such, Ka's story gives Pamuk the chance to explore
themes as disparate as the cultural, religious, and political divide between the East and West
(broadly construed); feminism; the link between artistic imagination and harsh reality; and the
complex, nuanced nature of Turkish identity. At the same time that he guides us through these
explorations, however, he cautions us to reject simplistic stereotypes and even interrogates his
own perspective as a Westernized author (who, in a very postmodern twist, appears himself in
the story as a third-person narrator) that retells the stories of Ka's life in Kars. As such,
though Snow is a "political" novel, it is first and foremost about rejecting simplicity, painting
both sides of a human crisis and showing us both the light and dark in each relevant party.

Though Pamuk has claimed in interviews that he believes politics is fundamentally

destructive to the process of artistic creation, he felt the need to write Snow on account of
perceived government attacks on democracy, social liberties, and the international reputation of
the Turkish state. As such, when he first finished the novel, he thought about first consulting a
lawyer before its publication to avoid any charges of sedition and to avoid rousing negative
public sentiment. His friends and colleagues, however, told him that his already established
international fame would prevent the government (which wanted to look towards the global, and
particularly Western, stage moving forward) from censoring his work. Even so, when the book
was first printed, the publisher showed it to a lawyer and kept some copies hidden just in case of
potential backlash within Turkey. Surprisingly, however, the backlash was relatively calm, and
the majority of Turks lauded the work and discussed the book intently, both praising its strengths
while also pointing out its shortcomings from their own perspectives.
On an international scale, too, the book made quite a splash. On the award circuit, the
novel was the recipient of the 2005 Prix Médicis étranger and the 2006 Prix Méditerranée
Étranger. American critics were at once taken aback by the panoramic and ambivalent nature of
Pamuk's prose, yet also stunned by its accessibility and insight into a very nuanced and tragic
conflict.
Characters

The Narrator/Orhan
The narrator stays unnamed almost through the entire novel, and he is only referred to as
""Orhan Bey" or "Orhan" towards the very end of the novel. A novelist and old friend of Ka,
Orhan tasks himself with piecing together the last years of Ka's life and recovering the lost
poems that Ka wrote during his time in Kars. The result of this quest to piece together Ka's later
years is the novel itself, which Orhan tells us time and again. Orhan claims that it was Ipek's
beauty which moved him to try and understand Ka's mental state and actions towards the end of
his life, and he often compares himself to his deceased friend. Additionally, at the end of the
novel, Orhan's daughter Rüya is mentioned—the name of Orhan Pamuk's daughter in real life.
Thus, the fact of the novel's narration is designed not only to provide the third-person omniscient
perspective that historical hindsight provides, but it is also designed to bridge the gap between
personal recollection and history, as well as art and mythology/memory. This latter tension is a
key theme of the novel in the form of its obsession with theater and craft, so it is especially
fitting to see echoes of this fixation in the text's narration.
Kerim Alakusoglu (Ka)
Kerim Alakusoglu—professionally and casually known as Ka—is the protagonist of the novel.
He is a poet by trade, and at the start of the novel, he has only just returned to Turkey after years
of self-exile in Germany. He found himself longing for the "backwards" and provincial culture of
the homeland he once abandoned, and so he has come to Kars as a journalist to write an article
about teenage girls who had committed suicide over the issue of headscarves in the classroom.
This, however, is only Ka's nominal reason for coming to Kars—his true purpose is to meet Ipek,
his former schoolmate with whom he is infatuated. Ka spends a great deal of the novel wrestling
among different national, religious, and personal allegiances, but by the novel's end, his
supercilious manner and jealousy leads him to betray Blue and anger Ipek. In the end, he returns
to Germany alone and, four years after the related events in Kars, Ka is shot dead on a street in
Frankfurt by disciples of Blue.
Muhtar
Muhtar is Ka’s acquaintance from his university years, and he is also a hobbyist poet. Now,
however, he is more familiar to Ka as Ipek's ex-husband. Ipek and Muhtar's marriage fell apart
because Muhtar found faith and became a devout Muslim, and he tried to persuade Ipek to cover
herself with a headscarf. Now single, he runs to be the mayor of Kars under the religious
Prosperity Party's banner. However, he is seen as a threat to the secular order by both the police
and the intelligence services of Turkey, so he is often detained and beaten. He is a loyal follower
of the Sheikh Effendi.
Turgut Bey
Turgut Bey is a former school teacher and Communist activist, but after serving time in prison
for his beliefs, he has withdrawn from politics. He is Kadife and Ipek's father, and he lives a
reclusive and quiet life with them in the Snow Palace Hotel of Kars. He never leaves the hotel,
but Ka is eventually able to persuade him to leave to attend a secret meeting at the Hotel Asia
and sign a joint statement with Islamists and Kurdish separatists (people whom he usually reviles
out of his reverence for "intellectualism").
Ipek
Ipek is the woman Ka is in love with. Though she is initially hesitant to return Ka's affections, by
the end of the novel, she wants to leave Kars for Frankfurt with him, where she thinks she might
finally have a chance at being happy. However, she never leaves Kars out of a sense of betrayal
when Ka reports Blue to the authorities: after all, Ipek knows that such an action is gong to
devastate Kadife, and she is greatly turned off by Ka's jealousy when faced with knowledge of
Ipek and Blue's past affair. Ipek is a very beautiful and tender person, but she is also a free-willed
and independent woman, which makes her an object of great admiration both around town and to
all those who meet her (like Orhan himself).
Kadife
Kadife is Ipek’s sister. She is not as conventionally beautiful as Ipek, but she is more determined,
defiant, and brave. Kadife originally has scorn for the girls who wear headscarves in defiance of
state orders, but she eventually comes to support them and starts wearing a headscarf herself.
Though she is a lover of the pro-Islamic nationalist Blue, she is also a fiercely feminist and
assertive woman whose opinions on most prominent issues are filtered through the lens of
gender. She understands that there can be no real liberation for Muslim women in Kars without
both economic and personal independence for women in general, and it is this desire to make an
impact that leads her to act in Sunay Zaim's play and eventually kill him (although this latter part
is an accident). She often pushes back on both Ka and Blue's reductive logics towards women,
and by the end of the novel, she is married to Fazil.
Blue
Blue is a representative of the Islamic nationalists who act in defiance of the established secular
laws of Turkey. Though he is branded as a fundamentalist and regressive terrorist by the state, he
is in reality a very composed and suave gentleman—in fact, he barely even looks Turkish (with
features like his midnight blue eyes). He is Kadife's lover, and though he stays in hiding for most
of the novel, he comes out to meet with Ka and attempts to get a statement out to the Western
press. In the end, however, Blue is betrayed by Ka out of jealousy regarding his past relationship
with Ipek. Ultimately, however, Blue is made a martyr for the cause, and his disciples in
Germany are responsible for Ka's death after the events of the novel.
Sunay Zaim
Sunay Zaim is an aging actor first encountered by Ka when he comes to Kars, and he leads a
traveling theater troupe with his wife, Funda Eser. In the past, Sunay was a prominent actor, but
in his pseudo-political bid to play Atatürk in television and movies, he made enemies among
both Islamists and the Kemalist camp, each of whom seized on his faults and spread gossip to
discredit him. When the snowstorm hits Kars during the events of the novel, Sunay realizes that
this is his perfect chance to create a true artistic masterpiece that bridges theatrical fiction and
reality, so he stages a republican coup during a play that leaves many dead and injured in Ka.
However, knowing that his time in the spotlight from the coup is brief, and knowing also that his
remaining life is short (he is terminally ill), he stages a second play just as the snow begins to
thaw in which he plans his own murder by Kadife and discusses a variety of political themes.
Z Demirkol
Z Demirkol is a former Communist who has turned into a violent republican in service of Sunay
Zaim. During the coup, he incites a series of violent crimes and also takes over the local
telecommunication utilities. Moreover, using his previous special operations experience, he
manages the coup's intelligence operations, and it is in this capacity that he tells Ka about Ipek
and Blue's past affair in order to make Ka turn on Blue.
Serdar Bey
Serdar Bey is a newspaper publisher in Kars, and he is a friend of both Turgut Bey and various
political factions that pay him to print biased news. He also is notable throughout the novel for
printing a variety of stories before they happen—a testament to the lack of free will in Kars
under strict political and military controls, but also evidence of the persuasive power of the
media. A particularly striking relationship in the text is between Serdar and Ka, since Serdar
essentially forces Ka both to perform his work and to go into hiding as a result of what he writes
(though he doesn't even really support the newspaper himself).
Necip
Necip is a young boy who attends the religious high school in Kars. He is infatuated with Kadife
(who he calls Hicran), and he dreams one day of writing Islamic science fiction. He is naturally
drawn to Ka, but he argues with Ka throughout the text over atheism and whether or not
atheism's consequences point towards suicide. Nonetheless, he and Ka remain close throughout
the text until he is killed during the coup. He is also a close friend of Fazil.
Fazil
Fazil is Necip's friend and the eventual husband of Kadife (after the events related in the text).
He is also a devout Muslim, and after Necip's death, he is haunted by his friend's ghost to a point
where his life comes to mirror that of his old friend—for example, falling in love with Kadife.
Eventually, however, he shows Orhan around town and helps him realize that Ka did in fact
betray Blue. Moreover, he takes Orhan to the place that inspired both Necip's vision of a godless
world and also Ka's poem on this topic. Finally, Fazil is notable for his rather explicit rejection of
the novel as an aesthetic project, since he says that Orhan's novel will ultimately only allow
Westerners to pity and otherize him. In response, he tells Orhan's readers not to trust everything
they read in the novel about Kars.
Summary
In the early 1990s, a poet name Ka—fresh off of a 12-year exile in Frankfurt, Germany—returns
to Turkey, the country of his birth and upbringing in order to write an article about a wave of
suicides among young girls in the Eastern city of Kars. In reality, however, Ka is using this trip
to Kars as an excuse to reconnect with Ipek, a beautiful woman from his past that he's heard
recently separated from Muhtar, their mutual friend from college. On the way into the city, Ka is
struck by the constantly falling snow, which reminds him not only of his innocent childhood, but
also of isolation, brutality, and even divinity. Though Ka is a secular, humanist individual in the
tradition of Europeans and Westernized Turks, he begins to wake up to a nascent sense of faith
while in the city of Kars. He also is continually struck by the destitution and sadness of the city;
for example, when Ka first arrives, he goes door to door to ask the families of the deceased girls
about their deaths and is disturbed deeply.
 Though popular opinion says that many of these young suicides took their own lives
because they were banned from wearing their headscarves at school by the secular government,
Ka finds that their deaths owed more to systemic poverty and general unhappiness.
Early on in the city of Kars, Ka meets up with Ipek at a café, where they witness the
assassination of the local director of the Institute of Education. From the scene of the
assassination, Ka goes to speak with Muhtar, a candidate for mayor of Kars under the
supervision of the Islamist Prosperity Party. After the police come and take both Ka and Muhtar
in for questioning, Ka runs into a boy named Necip who takes him to meet with Blue, a
prominent Islamist who is hiding in the city and who has been blamed for a series of religiously
motivated crimes. Later that day, Ka pays a visit to Muhtar's Sheikh and reckons with his own
rapidly developing religious awakening, as well as the new divine inspiration he feels to write
poetry again.
Afterwards, Ka runs into Necip again and finds him to be an honest and devout person
with a passion for writing, as well as a deep love for a woman named Hicran, who leads the
headscarf girls. Hicran, however, is really Ipek's sister Kadife, who shows up and escorts Ka
back to her father's house for dinner. That night, a performance is planned featuring Sunay Zaim,
a roaming actor with a sordid political and military past that Ka saw on his way into the city. Ka
is also scheduled to perform a new poem at the performance, which is going to be broadcast all
over the city.
Ipek convinces Ka to go to the theater and perform, which he does, but during Sunay's
performance, a coup is staged against Islamists that leaves many dead or wounded. What's more,
since the heavy snow has lead to road closures in and out of Kars, the coup's reign of terror is
able to go on for many days. During the time of the coup, Ka is befriended by Sunay Zaim and
also called on by Blue to issue an anti-coup statement to the West. It is in occupying this role of
mediator between the junta and Islamists that Ka discovers some key facts—Kadife is Blue's
mistress, Sunay is dying of heart disease, and Necip has been killed during the coup. Meanwhile,
as Ka plays multiple roles in Kars politics during the coup, he is also falling more and more in
love with Ipek and making preparations for the two of them to escape to Germany together.
Eventually, their relationship is consummated during a secret meeting (organized by Ka) of
various factions at the Hotel Asia, where a joint statement for the West is prepared by those
opposed to the coup. Shortly afterwards, Blue is captured by Sunay's men.
 A turning point comes in the novel when Sunay informs Ka that he is planning a second
play just before the roads thaw and the city reopens. This play is to feature Kadife and will see
her bare her head onstage, so Ka convinces Blue and Kadife both to participate in the
proceedings in exchange for Blue's release. However, just before the second play, Ka betrays
Blue because he finds out that he used to be in a relationship with Ipek. Once Blue dies however,
Ipek refuses to return to Frankfurt with Ka and stays in Kars to watch her sister perform. During
this play, Kadife kills Sunay with a gun that she thought was unloaded, and she becomes
immortalized as an almost legendary figure. Four years later, in Frankfurt, Ka is killed on the
street, and his poetry manuscript is stolen.

At this point, seeking to piece together the poetry written by Ka during his time in Kars
(which heavily features the motif of snow and its symbolic relationship with human life), Ka's
friend Orhan—who has been the narrator for the entire text—travels both around Germany and
to Kars in order to retrace his friend's steps. There, he is entranced by Ipek's beauty and finds that
Ka is hated by most of the people of Kars for his superciliousness and failure to take
responsibility for his betrayal of Blue. One key person who speaks to Orhan is Fazil, an old
friend of Necip's, who is married to Kadife and convinces Orhan to include some of his words in
the final novel he is writing about Ka (i.e., Snow itself). These words are to never completely
trust what an outsider says about Kars—the people there are not poor or caricatures to be pitied,
but rather real people whose lives have every bit the same importance as a Westerner's or
European's. After piecing together much of Ka's work and finding out that Ka did indeed betray
Blue—an action which likely caused Ka's own death at the hands of Blue's disciples years later
—Orhan then leaves Kars and watches it recede into the snow.

Themes

The conflict between cultural heritage and modernity

At the very beginning of this book, Orhan Pamuk introduces the readers into the
controversial world of modern Turkish community. The protagonist goes to a small town Kars,
which is located at the eastern border of the country. For a short time Kars is isolated from the
rest of the world due to the blizzard. The writer deliberately chooses to organize plot in this way
in order to emphasize an idea that this town is a miniature copy of Turkish society. Ka needs to
investigate the case of mass suicide committed by local women because they had not been
allowed to wear headscarves. The thing is that headscarf is regarded as “a symbol of political
Islam” and the reforms of Kemal Ataturk prohibited wearing this article of clothes .

Headscarf is an inseparable part of Turkish culture and it is rather unlikely this symbol
will ever be taken away. Naturally, Orhan Pamuk does not approve these restrictions, imposed
by the government. Nonetheless, at the same time he condemns bigotry among people, who try
to cling to this religious tradition. For example, one of the secondary characters, Hande suggests
suicide to another girl .Ka is both amazed and horrified by such people. It should be pointed out
that he was exiled from Turkey for twelve-years and such fanaticism frightens him even more.
This is one of those examples demonstrating the contradictory nature of modern Turkey.

In this case, the term “modernity” cannot be regarded as rejection of ones tradition,
values, and principles. More probably, it means the ability to accept new ideas, from which a
person and society can benefit. The cruel irony of the situation is that secular revolution tried to
erase the past of this nation. The role of Islam as the mainstream religion of this nation was
downgraded). All the more, those people who wished to retain their cultural heritage were
labeled as backward. We may remember the scene when one of the officials says “Don’t be
afraid, these people are modern”. In his view, everyone who does not accept the reforms, carried
out by Kemal Ataturk is outdated. In his book, Orhan Pamuk derides such doctrine. Apart from
that, we may say the author attempts to cope with a very challenging task: he must avoid
partiality and prejudice while presenting the key facts but at the same time he has to express his
views in an allegorical way and the town of Kars is an allegory of modern Turkey.

The clash of secularism and Islamic tradition

We need to discuss the novel from political perspective in order to get better
understanding of Pamuks ideas. It should be taken into account that after the fall of Ottoman
Empire, the control over the country passed from Islamic clergy to the republican government,
and since early thirties, these opposing sides have been striving to seize power. Unfortunately,
this feud also divided the population of the country and caused hostility and even armed conflicts
While describing the conflict between the Islamists and the supporters of the government, Orhan
Pamuk wants to be objective in his treatment of facts. Yet, he shows that the so-called
“democratic” government only proclaims liberalism to be its major priority but in reality it
remains totalitarian and militaristic.

One of the most notorious examples is the arrest and beating of suspect2 accused of
attempted murder of the minister .In addition to that, while portraying one of Islamic rivals,
Blue3, the author characterizes him as a very courageous and brave person. Due to this fact,
several critics claim that the author sympathizes with representatives of Islamism. Certainly,
Blues heroism in his struggle against the military is rather strong evidence that supports this
claim. But later the writer undermines this idea by showing that despite his noble intentions Blue
is a zealot who will stick at nothing in order to reach his goals.

The relations between Eastern and Western Cultures

Again, we have to emphasize an idea that Orhan Pamuk views Turkey as the country in
which European and Asian cultural traditions have to co-exist with one another. In actually, the
country is often defined as “the bridge between East and West”. The key problem is that such co-
existence is not always peaceful. In his book, the author illustrates the idea that in the relations
between two cultures vary depending on the geographic region. For instance, in highly-urbanized
areas such as Istanbul, women who do not cover their face are very common. Such behavior is
not considered as something outrageous. In sharp contrast, in urban areas uncovered female face
is simply unacceptable.LEARN MORE

This book strives to explain these discrepancies, and according to the author one of the
underlying causes lies in the dimension of economy. Rural regions of Turkey like the town of
Kars have not benefited from secular reforms. Urbanization and democratization did not improve
conditions of living in such regions. Orhan Pamuk says that in the overwhelming majority local
inhabitants live beyond the line of poverty .

In turn, poverty paves the ground for violence, hostility, and intolerance towards people,
who may differ in terms of their income level, religion, political affiliation and so forth. Of
course, this book is not intended to promote westernization of Turkey. Its message is that it is
utterly impossible to promote liberal and democratic values without enhancing financial
wellbeing of the citizens. Currently, this country represents a curious amalgam of Eastern and
Western cultural traditions. But the tensions between cultures, ethnic groups, and religions can
be reconciled or at least alleviated only if economic life rises to a higher standard. Otherwise, the
reconciliation of these philosophies is hardly possible and Turkey will not become the bridge
between them.

Ideological struggles and individuality

Naturally, the above-mentioned themes are of great importance in this novel, yet it seems
that Orhan Pamuk is more intent on studying the behavior of a person in the society, which is
torn asunder by various ideologies: liberalism, Islamism, secularism and so forth. As it has been
mentioned before, Ka returns from Germany and he has been accustomed to a different lifestyle.
Therefore, he has to accommodate himself to the environment which is a part of his own identity.
So, from the outset he acts as a mere observer. Most likely, he is disinclined to take sides with
any of opposing sides.

But, people who surround him do not give him any chance to be neutral and impartial.
Practically, every person whom Ka encounters belongs to a certain religious and political group.
Most importantly, they can accept Ka into their inner circle only if he shares their views. Any
disagreement may be taken a sign of4 disrespect or even enmity. Overtly, the representatives of
Islamism and secularism tolerate one another but this is just a mere façade. Many political
scientists believe that this is one of the most dangerous trends in modern Turkish society because
it can trigger violent conflicts

Orhan Pamuk demonstrates in hypothetically risks of such dependence on ideology,

which he depicts the conversation between Ka and one of the local boys. The protagonist is
being asked a question whether he believes in God or not. Ka is very frank in his response and
says that he does not know .The protagonist is immediately labeled as an atheist. The doubt itself
is not permissible from the point of view of an individual who is driven by some ideology. The
boy, who virtually interrogates him, advances the following argument: “If a person knows and
loves God, he never doubts God’s existence” .So, an individual is not allowed to occupy an
intermediate position. This is the greatest difficulty which Ka had to encounter.
To crown it all, he does not have firm principles or moral code. He slightly resembles a rolling-
stone which obeys every blow of the wind. This is one of the reasons why he gets involved into a
staged military coup. He appears to be indifferent of the fact that Muhtar has been beaten in the
police station. Moreover, he does not express any concern about the fate of his alleged friend
Blue. On the whole, it is rather difficult to explain why he behaves in this manner. We can only
hypothesize that Kas indifference is a natural reaction to the ideologies imposed on him by other
people.

Perhaps, this analogy is very far-fetched, but it is possible to draw parallels between Ka
and another literary character, Meursault, who cannot find a niche for himself. Both of them
cannot develop their identities and do not a have any sense of belonging to the community.
Furthermore, they give preference to observing rather than acting. Overall, it is quite possible to
argue that Orhan Pamuks book eloquently illustrates the dangers of ideological fanaticism and
bigotry because they can turn a human being in a puppet, devoid of moral judgment. This is
why Snow is considered as one of the most prominent works in contemporary Turkish literature.