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A Strangeness in My Mind
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ALSO BY ORHAN PAMUK
The Innocence of Objects
The Naïve and the Sentimental Novelist
The Museum of Innocence
Other Colors
Istanbul
Snow
My Name Is Red
The New Life
The Black Book
The White Castle
Silent House
Being the Adventures and Dreams of Mevlut Karataş, a Seller of Boza, and of His Friends, and Also a Portrait of Life in Istanbul Between 1969 and 2012 from Many Different Points of View
THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
AND ALFRED A. KNOPF CANADA
Copyright © 2015 by Orhan Pamuk
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, and in Canada by Alfred A. Knopf Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Ltd., Toronto. Originally published in Turkey as Kafamda Bir Tuhaflik by Yapı Kredi Yayinlari, Istanbul, in 2013. Copyright © 2013 by Orhan Pamuk. This translation originally published in hardcover in Great Britain by Faber and Faber Ltd, London, in 2015.
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Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC. Knopf Canada and colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House Ltd.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pamuk, Orhan, [date] [Kafamda bir tuhaflik. English]
A strangeness in my mind : being the adventures and dreams of Mevlut Karataş, a seller of boza, and of his friends, and also a portrait of life in Istanbul between 1969 and 2012 from many different points of view : a novel / Orhan Pamuk.—First edition. pages cm
ISBN 978-0-307-70029-2 eBook ISBN 978-1-101-87583-4
1. Street vendors—Turkey—Istanbul—Fiction. 2. Istanbul (Turkey)— Social life and customs—Fiction. 3. Istanbul (Turkey)—Social conditions— Fiction. I. Title.
PL248.P34K3513 2015 894′.3533—dc23 2015006769
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Pamuk, Orhan, [date] [Kafamda bir tuhaflik. English]
A strangeness in my mind / Orhan Pamuk ; translated from the Turkish by Ekin Oklap.
Translation of: Kafamda bir tuhaflik. Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-0-307-36126-4 eBook ISBN 978-0-307-36128-8
1. Street vendors—Turkey—Istanbul—Fiction. 2. Istanbul (Turkey)—Social life and customs—Fiction. 3. Istanbul (Turkey)—Social conditions—Fiction. I. Oklap, Ekin, translator. II. Title. III. Title: Kafamda bir tuhaflik. English.
PL248.P34K3513 2015 894.3533 C2015-903373-X
eBook ISBN 9781101875834
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Photograph on this page by Ara Güler
Cover art by Orhan Pamuk
Cover design by Chip Kidd
v4.1
a
For Asl
I had melancholy thoughts…
a strangeness in my mind,
A feeling that I was not for that hour,
Nor for that place.
—William Wordsworth, The Prelude
The first man who, having fenced off a plot of land, thought of saying “This is mine” and found people simple enough to believe him was the real founder of civil society.
— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men
The gulf between the private and public views of our countrymen is evidence of the power of the state.
—Celâl Salik, Milliyet
Contents
Cover
Also by Orhan Pamuk
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
The Families of Brothers Hasan Aktaş and Mustafa Karataş, Yogurt and Boza Sellers
PART I · THURSDAY, 17 JUNE 1982
Mevlut and Rayiha
Elopement Is a Tricky Business
PART II · WEDNESDAY, 30 MARCH 1994
Mevlut, Every Winter Evening for the Last Twenty-Five Years
Leave the Boza Seller Alone
PART III · SEPTEMBER 1968–JUNE 1982
1 Mevlut in the Village
If This World Could Speak, What Would It Say?
2 Home
The Hills at the End of the City
3 The Enterprising Individual Who Builds a House on Empty Land
Oh, My Boy, Istanbul Is a Little Scary, Isn’t It?
4 Mevlut Begins to Work as a Street Vendor
It’s Not Your Job to Act Superior
5 Atatürk Boys’ Secondary School
A Good Education Removes the Barriers Between Rich and Poor
6 Middle School and Politics
There’s No School Tomorrow
7 The Elyazar Cinema
A Matter of Life and Death
8 The Height of Duttepe Mosque
People Actually Live There?
9 Neriman
What Makes the City a City
10 The Consequences of Sticking Communist Posters on Mosques
God Save the Turks
11 The War Between Duttepe and Kültepe
We Don’t Take Sides
12 How to Marry a Girl from the Village
My Daughter Is Not for Sale
13 Mevlut’s Mustache
The Owner of Unregistered Land
14 Mevlut Falls in Love
Only God Could Have Ordained This Chance Encounter
15 Mevlut Leaves Home
If You Saw Her on the Street Tomorrow, Would You Recognize Her?
16 How to Write a Love Letter
Your Eyes Are Like Ensorcelled Arrows
17 Mevlut’s Army Days
Do You Think You’re at Home?
18 The Military Coup
The Cemetery of the Industrial Quarter
19 Mevlut and Rayiha
Elopement Is a Tricky Business
PART IV · JUNE 1982–MARCH 1994
1 Mevlut and Rayiha Get Married
Only Death Can Tear Us Apart
2 Mevlut Sells Ice Cream
The Happiest Days of His Life
3 Mevlut and Rayiha’s Wedding
Only Desperate Yogurt Sellers Bother with Boza
4 Rice with Chickpeas
Food Tastes Better When It’s Got Some Dirt in It
5 Mevlut Becomes a Father
Do Not Get Out of the Van
6 Samiha Runs Away
Blood Will Be Shed over This
7 A Second Daughter
It Was as If His Life Were Happening to Someone Else
8 Capitalism and Tradition
Mevlut’s Blissful Family Life
9 The Ghaazi Quarter
We’re Going to Hide in Here
10 Getting Rid of City Dust
My God, Where Is All This Filth Coming From?
11 Girls Who Refuse to Meet Their Suitors
We Were Just Passing By
12 In Tarlabaşı
The Happiest Man in the World
13 Süleyman Stirs Up Trouble
Isn’t That What Happened?
14 Mevlut Finds a New Spot
I’ll Go and Pick It Up First Thing Tomorrow Morning
15 The Holy Guide
I Am the Victim of a Grave Injustice
16 The Binbom Café
Let Them Know What You’re Worth
17 The Café Employees’ Big Swindle