Try to discover who I am from my choice of words and colors, as attentive people like yourselves might examine footprints to catch a thief.
Orhan PamukRead
I strongly believe that the art of the novel works best when the writer identifies with whoever he or she is writing about. Novels in the end are based on the human capacity, compassion, and I can show more compassion to my characters if I write in a first person singular.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of empathy in writing, suggesting that personal identification with characters enhances storytelling.
Orhan Pamuk highlights the significance of empathy and personal connection in the craft of novel writing. By identifying with the characters he creates, a writer can convey deeper emotions and engage readers more effectively. This connection allows for the exploration of the human experience through compassion, ultimately enriching the narrative and making the art of storytelling more profound.
Themes
EmpathyWritingNovelArtCharacters
In practice
Example use cases
In a workshop on creative writing, this quote could be introduced to highlight the importance of connecting with characters.
More from Orhan Pamuk
All quotes →The beauty and mystery of this world only emerges through affection, attention, interest and compassion . . . open your eyes wide and actually see this world by attending to its colors, details and irony.
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Where there is true art and genuine virtuosity the artist can paint an incomparable masterpiece without leaving even a trace of his identity.
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It was in Cihangir that i first learned Istanbul was not an anonymous multitude of walled-in lives - a jungle of apartments where no one knew who was dead or who was celebrating what - but an archipelago of neighbourhoods in which everyone knew each other.
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We had no desire to live in Istanbul, nor in Paris or New York. Let them have their discos and dollars, their skycrapers and supersonics transports. Let them have their radios and their color TV, hey, we have ours, don't we? But we have something they don't have. Heart. We have heart. Look, look how the light of life seeps into my very heart
Orhan PamukRead
These political movements flourish on the margins of Turkish society because of poverty and because of the people's feeling that they are not being represented.
Orhan PamukRead
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