The White Castle, by Orhan Pamuk

Historical and philosophical thinking carefully and cleverly crafted about the relationship between the East and the West. The Independent newspaper Bamuk's skill lies in the comprehensiveness and richness of ideas he incorporated into this short novel, and this simplicity. The Guardian newspaper In the seventeenth century, an Italian young man is captured by the Turks after their seizure of the ship carrying him from Venice to Naples. When he is interrogated by one of the Turkish Pashas, it becomes clear that the captive Italian has knowledge of astronomy and medicine; sciences that interest the Turkish Pasha. He then develops a desire to learn more about Western civilization through his Italian captive. At that point, the two cooperate to create many new devices and invent entertaining stories for the Sultan. White Castle is Orhan Pamuk's third novel, which marks the beginning of his journey toward global recognition, so much so that The New York Times wrote about the author after the novel's publication: "A new star has risen in the sky of the East." In it, the author delves deeply into the intricacies of the relationship between Western and Turkish cultures, through the stories of the two protagonists – the captive and the Pasha – and their wandering through the streets of Istanbul; to discover a strange similarity in their personalities, which helps them answer the question: "Why am I me?" Number of pages: 176