MYTHOLOGIZATION OF ISTANBUL IN THE NOVEL “THE WHITE CASTLE” BY ORHAN PAMYK

Abstract

The article analyses a novel by Orhan Pamuk “The White Castle” from the point of view of mythologization of the image of the city. The novel proves that the urban discourse of contemporary Turkish literature city is not only an image of reality but also a topos of shattered traditions, broken links between generations
or phantom-city, city-myth. Parable-like plot of the work leads to mythologization of the space narrative unfolds in; time acquires conditionality, as well as the main characters, thanks to the motif of duality. 
The peculiarity of the author’s narrative is predominance in the descriptions of Istanbul of cultural characteristics. Istanbul is a city-myth, where the author finds places with a distinct link to Western traditions. Thus the writer establishes a “European” optics of narrator-Venetian in his perception of the Eastern town; it is an attempt in self-expression and a basic concept of the worldview background
of the author. The image of the city characterizes by heterogeneity, multiplicity and cartography of topocultural planes. The transformation of Istanbul into a myth-city happens in the context of actualization of the problematic complex of self-identification of the hero and aims to create an author variant of alternative history.