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AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies, Volume 4, Number3. August  2020                                   Pp.87-96

The Protagonist and the City: Istanbul in Orphan Pamuk’s A Strangeness in My Mind and The Museum of Innocence

Abdulrahman Mokbel Mahyoub Hezam

Department of English, Faculty of Arts
Taiz University, Yemen
&
Department of Languages and Translation
Faculty of Science and Arts
Taibah University, Al-Ola, Saudi Arabia

Abstract:

The study is an attempt to focus on one of the world’s biggest cultural cities; Istanbul through the works of one of Turley’s great modernist writers Orphan Pamuk. The study tries to answer the following question: How does Pamuk use the personal stories of his characters to chronicle the historical development of Istanbul? Two novels have been selected for the study; A Strangeness in My Mind and The Museum of Innocence.  The significance of the study lies in trying to show how these two texts, not only reveal the writer’s reflections on urban space, but also show the character’s experience in urban space and how the author uses these experiences to chronicle the history of the city.  The study shows that the role of Istanbul in Pamuk’s novels moves from the setting for the action to an active element of the action and relation between the characters in these novels and Istanbul is a relation that evolves with time, wherein, both the variables are influenced by the action of one another.

Cite as:

Hezam, A. M. M. (2020). The Protagonist and the City: Istanbul in Orphan Pamuk’s A Strangeness in My Mind and The Museum of Innocence. Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies 4 (3) 87-96 .

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Dr. Abdurrahman Mokbel Mahyoub Hezam is an associate professor of English literature and
comparative studies at the department of English, Faculty of Arts, Taiz University. Currently he is
working as Head of the department of Languages and Translation, Faculty of Science and Arts,
Taibah University- Al-Ola, Saudi Arabia ID OrCid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9624-906X