Pamuk Takes Nobel for Literature

Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish novelist and fellow of Columbia's Committee on Global Thought, was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize for literature by the Swedish Academy Thursday.

"We are delighted by this recognition of his personal achievements, as we are by the fact that our University is home to two Nobel laureates in a single week," University President Lee Bollinger said in a statement. Economics professor Edmund Phelps won a Nobel Prize on Monday.

Pamuk, 54, is slated to be a professor at Columbia with a joint appointment in the School of the Arts and the Middle East and Asian languages and cultures department. His last time at Columbia was as a visiting scholar from 1985 to 1988.

Pamuk was prosecuted for "denigrating Turkishness" by the Turkish government last year after he was quoted in a Swiss newspaper mentioning the 1915 Armenian genocide, a topic that remains off-limits in Turkey. The charges, which spurred international debate over freedom of speech, were dropped in January.

He refused to field political questions at a press conference Thursday afternoon.

"This is a day for celebration, for being positive. I have lots of critical energy deep within me, but I'm not going to express it today," Pamuk said.

The author responded to the mention of an Associated Press report from early Thursday, which said he belittled the Nobel Prize this year on CNN-Turk. The AP was mistaken, Pamuk declared. "It's such a joy, such an honor to be here," he said instead. Recalling his years as a visiting scholar, he added, "I was here 22 years ago writing one of my books up across in Butler Library."

The novelist hopes that the prize will bring attention to Turkish literature. Pamuk, "in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city, has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures," the Swedish Academy said in the award citation. He has been praised for reshaping the Western-based novel form to fit broader world views, helping to bridge East and West.

"The metaphor of bridge is so old-fashioned, so worn-out, that it's my job to invent new metaphors," Pamuk said.

"We do need new metaphors. We live in a different world. Our metaphors are from earlier times," agreed Carol Gluck, George Sansom professor of history. Gluck is Pamuk's colleague on the Committee on Global Thought.

The committee, created by Bollinger last December, is charged with identifying curricular and structural changes "that will integrate global issues more effectively into the academic life of the University," Bollinger said. Pamuk will lead a symposium as a fellow this academic year.