MALAYALAM
Historical novel
H. RAMAKRISHNAN
THE WHITE CASTLE: Translated by Jeny Andrews; DC Books, DC Kizhakemuri Edam, Good Shepherd Street, Kottayam-686001. Rs. 90.
THIS STORY is set in the 17th century Istanbul. A young Italian scholar sailing from Venice to Naples is taken prisoner by the Ottoman Empire. Soon thereafter, he becomes the slave of a scholar Hoja, who wants to learn everything about the West.
The author, Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish novelist and a professor in the Columbia University, is a Nobel Laureate. He asserts that he stands by his words and, what is more,by his right to say them.
Faruk Darvinoglu, a historian, says in his foreword that he found the script accidentally in 1982 in a forsaken archive of the Turkish Governor’s office in Gebze.
He asserts that many of the incidents that occur in the novel have no relationship with reality. He also warns that the plot should not be construed as in any way linked to modern Turkey.
The novel has a powerful theme that plays on the identities, cultural dissimilarities, and the meeting of East and West.
The reader is sure to grow impatient to explore what comes next and, on finding it, want even more.
It is no easy task to transcreate the dialectical relationship between Hoja and the narrator.
The translator, Jeny Andrews, deserves appreciation and admiration for his equally powerful, yet simple narrative that brings out the lively and animated spirit of this historical novel which earned a critical acclaim in the West. Yes, Andrews has made a significant contribution to the genre of translation.
This extraordinary book merits a wider audience.
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