Turkish Literature in Translation Reading Group: Snow by Orhan Pamuk

The Turkish Literature in Translation Reading Group aims to gather those who are interested in Turkish literature at UT together. It meets every month throughout the semester and the discussions are held in English. The meetings are open to the entire UT community, as well as interested individuals outside UT.

In the group's first meeting, they will “dive into” Turkish literature with an internationally renowned work: the Turkish Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk’s seventh novel Snow. Snow revolves around a poet recently returned from exile, who sets out for the city of Kars, intending to write on the rise of political Islam for Turkey's leading secular newspaper. During the three-day blizzard that begins as he arrives, the city endures a compressed version of every misfortune that has visited the republic over three or more decades. To read the book today, almost two decades after its publication, is to see just how accurately it also charts what is yet to come.