Nobel. Orhan Pamuk.

Orhan Pamuk, "who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures," has won this year's Nobel Prize in Literature.

The New York Times has collected its reviews of Pamuk's books as well as related articles and an interview on one handy page.

More browsing: an excerpt from the Paris Review interview, his page at Random House, the Wikipedia entry, this summer's brief "Time 100" profile and the complete review's link-laden pages on Istanbul, Snow and My Name is Red.

One film-related note: Pamuk wrote the screenplay for Ömer Kavur's 1991 film, Gizli Yüz (Secret Face, 1991).

Updated through 10/15.

Updates, 10/15: Robert Crum in the Observer: "Rarely in modern times has a novelist found the voice to tell his people the daring, possibly transgressive, stories about themselves that they crave. Not since the days of dissident literature in the USSR has a writer been so much the spokesperson for a generation. In Turkey this has brought the adulation of the young. This is all the more remarkable because Pamuk is hardly an easy writer."

Mary Jo Murphy illustrates this point with excerpts from Pamuk's work. Also in the NYT: Charles McGrath's profile.

Posted by dwhudson at October 12, 2006 6:31 AM