HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

No title (1985)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1,788419,485 (3.34)82
From a Turkish writer who has been compared with Borges, Nabokov, and DeLillo comes a dazzling novel that is at once a captivating work of historical fiction and a sinuous treatise on the enigma of identity and the relations between East and West. In the 17th century, a young Italian scholar sailing from Venice to Naples is taken prisoner and delivered to Constantinople. There he falls into the custody of a scholar known as Hoja--"master"--a man who is his exact double. In the years that follow, the slave instructs his master in Western science and technology, from medicine to pyrotechnics. But Hoja wants to know more: why he and his captive are the persons they are and whether, given knowledge of each other's most intimate secrets, they could actually exchange identities. Set in a world of magnificent scholarship and terrifying savagery, The White Castle is a colorful and intricately patterned triumph of the imagination. Translated from the Turkish by Victoria Holbrook.… (more)
Member:
Title:
Authors:
Info:
Collections:
Rating:
Tags:None

Work Information

The White Castle by Orhan Pamuk (1985)

  1. 20
    Snow by Orhan Pamuk (nushret)
  2. 00
    Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian (unlucky)
  3. 01
    The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie (edwinbcn)
    edwinbcn: A magical story set against the background of the near-east.
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 82 mentions

English (28)  Italian (4)  Spanish (3)  Dutch (2)  French (2)  Latvian (1)  Hungarian (1)  All languages (41)
Showing 1-5 of 28 (next | show all)
Ӕ
  AnkaraLibrary | Feb 23, 2024 |
Alternately fascinating and frustrating. A plethora of interesting ideas and situations, but a plot that ultimately circles and never seems to go anywhere. I found myself skimming the last couple of chapters, eager to get to the end and move on. This is undoubtedly someone's cup of tea, but it definitely isn't mine. ( )
  jeddak | May 6, 2023 |
This is one of those strange books that I will probably never need to re-read because it is strange enough to remember.

I did enjoy it, it was an interesting read. ( )
  Wendell_Lear | Mar 26, 2023 |
I did not enjoy this book at all. Perhaps I misunderstood what it was to be about, but I expected to learn what it was like for an Italian slave in 17th century Turkey. Instead, it was a slow-moving psychological story. ( )
  dkhiggin | May 25, 2021 |
I have to say, I'm pretty sure a bit of this went over my head. Or maybe that's how it's supposed to be? After all, if we can never be quite sure that we are who we are, shouldn't we feel a bit confused at the end? ( )
  beautifulshell | Aug 27, 2020 |
Showing 1-5 of 28 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors (14 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Pamuk, Orhanprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Pamuk, Orhanmain authorall editionsconfirmed
Bellingeri, GiampieroTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Carpintero Ortega, RafaelTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Divendal, VeronicaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Holbrook, VictoriaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Iren, IngridTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Meyer, AliCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Miró, CarlesTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Nyytäjä, KaleviTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Феонова, ВераTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
To imagine that a person who intrigues us has access to a way of life unknown and all the more attractive for its mystery, to believe that we will begin to live only through the love of that person – what else is this but the birth of great passion?

– Marcel Proust, from the mistranslation of Y. K. Karaosmanoglu
Dedication
For Nilgun Darvinoglu
a loving sister
(1961–1980)
First words
We were sailing from Venice to Naples when the Turkish fleet appeared.
I found this manuscript in 1982 in that forgotten 'archive' attached to the governor's office in Gebze that I used to rummage through for a week each summer, at the bottom of a dusty chest stuffed to overflowing with imperial decrees, title deeds, court registers and tax rolls. (Preface)
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Information from the Dutch Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

From a Turkish writer who has been compared with Borges, Nabokov, and DeLillo comes a dazzling novel that is at once a captivating work of historical fiction and a sinuous treatise on the enigma of identity and the relations between East and West. In the 17th century, a young Italian scholar sailing from Venice to Naples is taken prisoner and delivered to Constantinople. There he falls into the custody of a scholar known as Hoja--"master"--a man who is his exact double. In the years that follow, the slave instructs his master in Western science and technology, from medicine to pyrotechnics. But Hoja wants to know more: why he and his captive are the persons they are and whether, given knowledge of each other's most intimate secrets, they could actually exchange identities. Set in a world of magnificent scholarship and terrifying savagery, The White Castle is a colorful and intricately patterned triumph of the imagination. Translated from the Turkish by Victoria Holbrook.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.34)
0.5
1 10
1.5 5
2 49
2.5 13
3 110
3.5 25
4 96
4.5 7
5 42

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,241,351 books! | Top bar: Always visible