The museum of innocence / Orhan Pamuk ; translated from the Turkish by Maureen Freely Pamuk, Orhan, 1952-

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Author
Pamuk, Orhan, 1952-
Subjects
Man-woman relationships - Fiction.; Istanbul (Turkey) - Fiction.; Love stories, Turkish
Summary
"It is 1975, a perfect spring in Istanbul. Kemal, scion of one of the city's wealthiest families, is about to become engaged to Sibel, daughter of another prominent family, when he encounters Fusun, a beautiful shopgirl and a distant relation. Once the lung-lost cousins violate the code of virginity, a rift begins to open between Kemal and the world of the Westernized Istanbul bourgeoisie - a world, as he lovingly describes it, with opulent parties and clubs, society gossip, restaurant rituals, picnics, and mansions on the Bosphorus, infused with the melancholy of decay - until finally he breaks off his engagement to Sibel. But his resolve comes too late.". "For eight years Kemal will find excuses to visit another Istanbul, that of the impoverished backstreets where Fusun, her heart now hardened, lives with her parents, and where Kemal discovers the consolations of middle-class life at a dinner table in front of the television. His obsessive love will also take him to the demimonde of Istanbul film circles (where he promises to make Fusun a star), a scene of seedy bars, run-down cheap hotels, and small men with big dreams doomed to bitter failure.". "In his feckless pursuit, Kemal becomes a compulsive collector of objects that chronicle his lovelorn progress and his afflicted heart's reactions: anger and impatience, remorse and humiliation, deluded hopes of recovery, and daydreams that transform Istanbul into a cityscape of signs and specters of his beloved, from whom now he can extract only meaningful glances and stolen kisses in cars, movie houses, and shadowy corners of parks. A last chance to realize his dream will come to an awful end before Kemal discovers that all he finally can possess, certainly and eternally, is the museum he has created of his collection, this map of a society's manners and mores, and of one man's broken heart."--BOOK JACKET.
Bookmark
http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/31859135
Work ID
31859135

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