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Orhan Pamuk: The Painterly Practice of a Novelist

Nobel Prize-winning writer Orhan Pamuk likes to visit The Met every Friday and Saturday evening to enjoy the “museum-ness” of the Museum. Join Mr. Pamuk for a look at the works that have inspired his writing for many years as he relays his journey from painter to writer and back again.

Painting of a hunter slaying a horned creature, with vignettes of other figures on horseback

Author: Abu'l Qasim Firdausi (ca. 940/41–1020); Painting attributed to 'Abd al-'Aziz (Iran, 16th century); Workshop director: Aqa Mirak (Iran, 16th century). "Bahram Gur Slays the Rhino-Wolf", Folio 586r from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp (Iran, Tabriz, ca. 1530–35). Watercolor, ink, silver, and gold on paper. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Arthur A. Houghton Jr., 1970 (1970.301.65)


Further Reading

Memories of Distant Mountains: Illustrated Notebooks 2009 - 2022 by Orhan Pamuk.

Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, and in Canada by Alfred A. Knopf Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Limited, Toronto. Originally published in Turkey as Uzak Daglar ve Hatiralar by Yapi Kredi Yayinlan, Istanbul, in 2022.

Copyright @ 2022 by Orhan Pamuk.

English translation copyright @ 2024 by Ekin Oklap

Images and excerpts from Memories of Distant Mountains: Illustrated Notebooks 2009 - 2022 courtesy of Orhan Pamuk.


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