History Literature / Snow2004

''Snow'' earned its writer a UsefulNotes/NobelPrizeInLiterature. Though the author's sympathies are more with the Westernized, secular Turks, he shows that the Islamists have a legitimate grievances, and that the Turkish government has more than its share of dark secrets (Pamuk himself is rather unpopular in Turkey due to his criticisms of the governments treatments of the Kurdish ethnic minority; he currently resides in the United States).

Creator/OrhanPamuk's ''Snow'' tells the story of Ka, a lonely poet returning to his Turkish homeland after long years of exile...

Well, sort of. Actually, it's really more about Turkey's continuing identity crisis, and the endless push-pull between secularism and Islam, modernity and romanticism, rich and poor, nationalism and leftism...

But that doesn't really do it justice. Art's the important thing, how it inspires and is inspired. The novel references art from many different mediums, showing how it can transform minds...

Put simply, ''Snow'' is all of this and more. Ka finds himself going to the remote eastern city of Kars, its lonely houses in the path of a snowstorm. His purpose? To reconnect with the beautiful İpek, a woman he'd loved ardently but lost to a fellow leftist, named Muhtar, during his student days. Ka's more or less abandoned politics, preferring his own artistic dreamscape to the world's reality. He finds out that İpek's separated from Muhtar (who's become an Islamist), which at first seems a cause for much rejoicing.

Into this mix comes Sunay Zaim, a theater troupe manager and actor with a rather... intense nationalistic and secularistic streak. He's trying to attack the Islamists in town by doing a florid performance of ''My Fatherland or My Scarf'', a Turkish play that condemns religiosity. Opposing him is an Islamist named Blue, a wanted terrorist and killer, and the students at a local religious bigh school. Hovering over everything is the army and the ubiquitous secret police known as MİT.

''Snow'' earned its writer a well-deserved UsefulNotes/NobelPrizeInLiterature. It offers a fascinating look at the contradictions and concerns of modern Turkey. Though the author's sympathies are more with the Westernized, secular Turks, he shows that the Islamists have a legitimate grievances, and that the Turkish government has more than its share of dark secrets (Pamuk himself is rather unpopular in Turkey due to his criticisms of the governments treatments of the Kurdish ethnic minority; he currently resides in the United States).

* CharacterNarrator: At first, ''Snow'' seems like it's told from a standard third-person perspective. As it goes on, however, it becomes apparent that the narrator is Ka's friend, [[spoiler:investigating his death]]! Eventually, it turns out that the narrator is none other than Orham Pamuk himself!
* CloudCuckooLander: Ka sometimes comes across as this, due to his deep introversion and poetic nature.

* GreyAndGreyMorality: Most of the accusations the various factions hurl at each other are true, or at least apply to the particular representative of that faction that they wer hurled at.

* {{Hypocrite}}: [[NotHyperbole Everyone]], although very special mention should go to Blue, the radical Islamist terrorist who does not seem to think that Islamic morality applies to ''him'' as long as he kills enough people in its name.

* PoliceState: Turkey has shades of this in the novel, and perhaps in reality as well.

* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: A big theme of the novel. Both the Islamists and the government see each other as terrorist, and both have some justification for this stance.

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: İpek]] on [[spoiler: Muhtar]] with [[spoiler: Blue]].

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: At first, ''Snow'' seems like it's told from a standard third-person perspective. As it goes on, however, it becomes apparent that the narrator is Ka's friend, [[spoiler:investigating his death]]! Eventually, it turns out that the narrator is none other than Orham Pamuk himself!

* CatchTheConscience: Sunay Zaim's performance of ''My Fatherland or My Scarf'' seems to be this. [[spoiler:It is, but is more importantly an excuse to launch a strange, localized secular coups in order to stop the encroach of Islamism, and also to secure Zaim's place in the pantheon of Turkish dramatic artists]]. A later example is his heavily altered version of Thomas Kyd's ''The Spanish Tragedy''.