The White Castle

Orhan Pamuk is a renowned Turkish writer, winner of numerous national and international awards, including the Nobel Prize in Literature for “the search for the soul of his melancholic city.” The soul of the city is always found in its past—perhaps that’s why Pamuk’s talent shines so brilliantly in historical novels such as “My Name Is Red” and “The White Castle.” The plot of “The White Castle,” set in the 17th century, is both simple and mysterious—like an ancient Arabian miniature: the main character, a young Italian, is taken prisoner by the Turks, where he becomes the slave of a strange man obsessed with understanding the universe. However, the most unsettling secret lies in the astonishing resemblance between the Italian captive and the Turkish scholar—two people who look alike as if they were identical twins.