The white castle 

It is an interesting novel that was written by Orhan Pamuk. Pamuk is a new star on the horizon. He produced the magical rabbit from the hat by mixing history, nostalgia and fireside storytelling.  

Few reasons triggered my interest in the writer Pamuk. I read somewhere that this author uses a retinue of researchers to gather the lingo/language of the places and communities to incorporate into his stories.

Secondly, Istanbul bowled me over when I visited it. The romance with Istanbul has still not left me. Someone in my tour group has mentioned that Pamuk has used the word HUZUN in his writings. The word, HUZUN, represents a form of melancholy, Post-imperial melancholy. This melancholy is the legacy of the imperial past of the present Istanbulites.  It is a kind of sense of loss of glory and what one had at one point of time of life.

His critics hold that Pamuk has glossed over the political and social costs of imperialism extending into the present. Yet I agree with Pamuk that one cannot erase one’s past, history and legacy; however pleasant or unpleasant it is. I believe that these things can never be in black-and-white being totally pleasant or totally unpleasant. Moreover, we have to see them, giving allowance to their historical context non judgmentally.

When I saw Hagia Sofia at Istanbul, it appeared that still the ghosts and the spirits of the past hover around, Ghosts of the victorious Ottomans and the vanquished Byzantines.  One of these is elevated to the skies, and the other one is sunk to the abyss. Very poignant. The Frescos on the wall with golden mosaics underneath the plastering transported me to the event-proper, which happened 600 years ago. The scenarios depicted in the novel are related to the Royal past of Istanbul.

History always fascinated me. The events in a phenomena cut-off from its past and the future have no meaning. But when seen longitudinally, it unveils a different reality altogether.

All the above four reasons have propelled me to read Pamuk. Then came the question of which book to read. Someone on a literary forum on the net mentioned that the White Castle is the best book to start with to read Pamuk’s novels.

The plot

Turkish fleet attacked the Venetian ships and took over the inmates as captives and sold them off as slaves in the Istanbul market.

One Italian/Venetian, whom I refer to as Venetian slave, VS in short form. VS narrates the story in a first-person account.

The royal courtier called Pasha buys  VS  as a slave and in turn, gives him to his right-hand man  HOJO as a slave.

HOJO’s interests are astronomy, medicine, fireworks, mathematics and invention of weaponry. And also, clock making. Historically when we visit the museum seeing the royal artefacts, they are dominated by watches; such was the fascination for the practical and mechanical objects in the early part of the history of culture of innovation and inventions.

The relationship between HOJO and VS is fascinating. It is weaved in a sophisticated way by the Author. It is a Blow-hot and blow-cold relationship. There was affection, cooperation, competition, jealousy, at times; they hate each other but sometimes show cooperation, complementarity and friendship.

The whole exercise, background setting, event setting, and the connivance and cooperation to attain the goals of getting closer to the royalty and becoming a Royal astrologer, the whole tapestry of the story is very artistic and appealing.

Hojo and VS are exact replicas of each other as if there are identical twins. Hojo at times seeks the company and help of VS, and at times he hates him and treats him like an insect.

Escaping and gaining liberty from slavery and going  back to his native land in Italy was always in the mind of VS.

HOJO, along with the Pasha try to convert VS to Islam. They pretend that they are going to execute him, and even at the pain of death he refuses conversion. but in his innards, he always had a  hope that conversion may help him save his Life.

The Duo sets off their experimentation of fireworks using their mathematical and inventive skills and fascinates the whole of Istanbul and finds their way to the royal attention. 

They start analysing dreams of the Sultan conveniently to become courtiers. They scheme the entire night about how to interpret the dreams for their advancement. Hojo’s aim was to invent the ultimate weapon, a massive and mighty gun which could blast the ramparts and walls of any fort. He needs funds from the Sultan.

The Sultan was old, and the young prince is a nature buff and appears gullible but is intelligent. The Duo fascinates him by the research on ants and frogs and accompanies him in hunts. So far HOJO himself goes to the court when called, and VS is just a backroom boy. Later on, events and necessity make them turn the table and take each other’s place.

The old Sultan dies, and the adolescent and young Sultan takes over. The Royal astrologer was killed, so is Pasha. The lives were uncertain, and anybody can be a conspirator or perceived as a conspirator and killed immediately.

The plague attacks Istanbul.  

HOJO becomes a Royal astrologer. The Sultan asks HOJO to tell when the epidemic will end. The Duo pretends that they have to consult the stars and make a prediction. They seek a lot of men to go and get the data from the mosque, regarding the number of coffins coming to the mosque. And later they find that it is the infection rate which is essential to see the trajectory to predict when the epidemic will end. They advise the market to be closed and people restricted to their houses

 Finally, they make their bid,  saying that plague will end in three weeks.

It does end in that time; business activities were allowed to resume and there is a fear that the infection may come back again, but it never does. This predictive episode increases the influence and the reach of this Duo to the stratosphere.

They wait for an extended period to get the funding for the big gun. Finally, the Sultan granted them the right of collection of taxes from two villages and two mills which were not far off from Istanbul.

One day the Sultan asked HOJO  to get his gun for a campaign towards the Christian lands in eastern/Central Europe. The big gun is like a beast and transporting it in a campaign is not an easy job.  It was a big task to prevent the bogging down of the big gun in the mud and slush.

Hojo does a study while travelling towards the white castle. He goes on to ask many villagers at the pain of confinement and punishment, a question: what are the most sinful acts in their Life. Everyone says some trivia which cannot be called significant sins. They cannot cook up anything which they have not committed to satisfy  HOJO. 

Lack of major sins angers him more and he keeps asking the same question at the Christian households and Muslim households as well. What emerges finally is that the transgressions which people make are trivial and not of a serious nature, and their religion did not make any difference to them. The Author tries to make observations against the general belief that the infidels are low lives and their minds are sinful, contaminated and satanic. But HOJO finds evidence lacking. This also sets the background for the ending of the story.

The campaign goes on, and the siege of White castle begins. Sultan assigned the task of breaching the walls of the castle to the commander of the attacking forces.

He fails to do this and the Sultan finally asks HOJO to bring in his big gun. Even the weapon fails.  During the war, Hojo goes to the injured and asks them the same question, about their sins and transgressions and finds that the answers were the same. The reader can see that there is some sort of transformation in HOJO.

Failure of the gun may cost the Life of HOJO. he sees that the commander was killed for his failure. He makes the final decision and impersonates himself as  VS, as a Christian and escapes to Italy to VS’s family pretending to be VS.

VS makes some sort of apologetic and explanation and escapes from death and survives as Muslim HOJO.

VS as HOJO lives to reach 70 years of age and continues his dream analysis of many people,  the ordinary and the elite. He listens to their stories and makes them as plots of his stories.  

One day a Travel writer comes and spends a night with him. They spend time narrating stories. The closing scene was that of the travel writer seeing some plants and trees through the window and looking at the face of VS, who is HOJO now.

The plants and the cherry tree is seen through the window were native to Italy and not to Istanbul.

The novel leaves a very good after taste.

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Theme: The theme is regarding Islam, Christianity, feudalism, monarchy, science and superstition. Science is represented as clock making, gun making, predicting the course of plague, how psychologically the duo Hojo and VS tried to influence each other, and how they advance themselves in the royal court manipulating the people around including the Sultan. The whole theme of the Author is said through a character. ” No Life is determined in advance. All stories are essentially a chain of coincidences. The Author might be believing that this applies to all human Life and life stories.

Setting: The year 1550, after months, royal courts, war, plague prediction, astrology, scientific advice bandied as astrology

Characters: There are only three characters. VS, HOJO, and the Sultan. Hojo and VS swap their roles in the duo’s play.

Style: The style is descriptive of human nature and human environment, Human condition is entwined with psychological play, within oneself and between people. Good historical drama and nostalgic references of the place, history and legacy.