The Turkish Identity Crisis in 'The New Life' by Orhan Pamuk

Abstract

The New Life as a delightful novel of ideas serves as a parable for modern Turkey. This study explores how issues of Turkish identity and social reality set up allegorical events that guide the story. Orhan Pamuk evokes the contemporary problem of national identity in Turkey by managing the main characters to enter the world of the mysterious unnamed book. The New Life doubts about all ideological doctrines surrounded Turkey between the tragic absurdities of its past and present, and the hidden clash between Eastern historical values and Westernization by criticizing of globa lization and multinational corporate expansion which characterizes Turkey today. Thus, this study attempts to prove the facets that Orhan Pamuk used in his novel to define Turkish national identity.

Keywords: Identity, Turkey, Westernization, Orhan Pamuk, Turkishness