''The White Castle'' (original Turkish title: ''Beyaz Kale'') is a novel by Turkish writer
Orhan Pamuk.
Plot introduction
The events of this story take place in 17th century
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
. The story is about a young
Italian scholar sailing from
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
to
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
who is taken prisoner by the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. Soon after, he becomes the slave of a scholar known as Hoja (master), a man who is about his own age, and with whom he shares a strong physical resemblance.
Hoja reports to the
Pasha
Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, gener ...
, who asks him many questions about science and the world. Gradually Hoja and the narrator are introduced to the
Sultan
Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...
, for whom they eventually design an enormous iron weapon.
The slave is told to instruct the master in Western science and technology, from medicine to astronomy. But Hoja wonders why he and his slave are the persons they are and whether given knowledge of each other's most intimate secrets, they could actually exchange identities.
Plot summary
The story begins with a
frame tale
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
*Framing (con ...
in the form of a
preface
__NOTOC__
A preface () or proem () is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a '' foreword'' and precedes an author's preface. The preface often closes ...
written by historian Faruk Darvinoglu (a character referenced in Pamuk's previous book,
''Silent House'') between 1984 and 1985, according to the fictional dedication to the character's late sister at the beginning of the frame tale. Faruk recalls finding the story that follows in a storage room while looking through an archive in the governor's office in Gebze, among old bureaucratic papers. He takes the transcript, fascinated by its presence in such a place. During his breaks from work, he begins trying to find a source for the tale, hoping to authenticate its events and author. He is able to connect the author to Italy, but is unable to make any further progress. An acquaintance tells him that manuscripts such as the one he found could be found throughout the many old, wooden houses of Istanbul, mistaken for ancient Korans, and left venerated and unread. With some encouragement, he decides to publish the manuscript. The preface ends with Faruk noting that the publisher chose the title of the book, and a remark on the nature of modern readers will try to connect the dedication to his sister to the tale that follows. (See
metafiction
Metafiction is a form of fiction which emphasises its own narrative structure in a way that continually reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story ...
).
The story proper begins with an unnamed narrator being captured by the Turkish fleet while sailing from Venice to Naples. When the captain hesitates, the ship is taken, and the narrator and his fellows are captured. The narrator, fearing for his life, claims to be a doctor. Using basic anatomy, he's able to bluff successfully, but he is still imprisoned when the ship arrives. During his imprisonment, he is brought before the pasha, and cures him of his shortness of breath. Though he is still a slave, he begins to gain preferential treatment among the slaves and prison guards. When prisoners from
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
arrive, he tries to get word of home, to no avail. The pasha commissions him to work on a fireworks display for his son's wedding. He is surprised when the man he is to work with looks the same as he.
The narrator works with Hoja, believing that he'll have nothing useful to share with Hoja. He is surprised when Hoja tries to tout a poorly translated copy of Almageist, which receives a lukewarm reaction from the narrator. The two work on the fireworks display and the narrator's insights onto contemporary science goes a great deal to assist his doppelganger, leading to the display's success. After the wedding, the pasha offers the narrator his freedom under the condition that he convert to
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
. When he refuses, a
mock execution
A mock execution is a stratagem in which a victim is deliberately but falsely made to feel that their execution or that of another person is imminent or is taking place. The subject is made to believe that they are being led to their own executio ...
is staged to pressure him. When he refuses even then, the pasha commends him and ridicules him for his stubbornness, before turning him over to Hoja's custody.
While living with Hoja, the narrator is the subject to Hoja's cruelty, ambitions, and inquiries. Using the narrator's knowledge of astronomy, as well as tales from Italy, he's able to entertain the young sultan. Hoja reveals his goal of gaining the sultan's favor in order to obtain the position as court astrologer. As Hoja becomes interested in the narrator's past, the two try to swap stories of “why” they are the way they are. While the narrator is able to do so, Hoja is unable to, as he is unable to find any flaws within himself. As the narrator continues to write about his past, Hoja becomes increasingly malicious and taunts the narrator over his past misdeeds, and claims that while he cannot admit his faults, because the narrator can, Hoja can claim superiority over him. When the
plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
breaks out, he uses the narrator's fear of it to torment him further. When it appears that the plague has killed him, the narrator runs away. Hoja, still alive, reclaims him. Hoja continues trying to learn about the narrator's past.
After the plague subsides, Hoja obtains the post of imperial astrologer. Competing over the influence of the sultan's mother and his youthful impatience, he sets out to create a great weapon that will prove his brilliance, and that of the Ottoman Empire's. They work on the weapon for the next six years. During this time, the narrator is shocked at how much Hoja knows about his past, and his mannerisms, and can imitate him perfectly. The narrator has nightmares about his loss of identity.
The weapon is completed in time for a siege on
Edirne, with the goal of a taking the titular white castle, the castle Doppio. The narrator learns from a distance that the weapon has not only failed, but that the Poles that they were attacking have obtained reinforcements from
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
and the
Cossacks
The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...
. Fearing for his life, Hoja abandons the narrator and vanishes. The narrator goes into hiding as well.
The book closes with the narrator, now in his seventies, talking about his life after the failure at Edirne. He is married, with children, and has done quite well financially while he worked as royal astrologer, though he resigned his post before the intrigue got him killed. He has accepted that travelers that he sees are not coming to see him. He ponders what became of ‘Him’, who'd escaped to Italy. A traveling author, Evliya Chelebi, seeks him out, hoping to learn about Italy, as he'd once owned an Italian slave. The narrator agrees, and the two men share stories over the course of two weeks, before departing. The narrator tells us that it is this incident that inspired him to record the previous events of his life.
Themes
The dynamic of the slave-master relationship is a recurring theme throughout ''The White Castle''. Hoja, the master, tries to assume superiority over the narrator several times throughout the story, whether by ridiculing him for his childhood, or for his weakness and paranoia as a slave. However, Hoja spends just as much time trying to learn from the Narrator, and frustrated at the narrator when he withholds knowledge from him. The slave-master dynamic continues to deteriorate when the two realize they are able to switch identities.
The power of knowledge is another major theme in ''The White Castle''. The Narrator and Hoja are both seen as intellectuals. However, while neither can truly claim that they know more than the other at first, the narrator's knowledge is contemporary, and more scientifically sound than Hoja's, which is filtered through another language, and then filtered again through
dogma
Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...
. The models of the heliocentric and geocentric universes also come to represent the two men and their views on the world. The narrator sees and uses his knowledge as a way to help whereas Hoja uses his knowledge to move his own ambitions forward.
The modernization, or rather, the failure to modernize, of the Ottoman Empire is hinted at throughout the story, before becoming a major symbol during the climax. The failure of The Ottoman Empire, and its modern counterparts, such as Turkey, to modernize along with its rivals is a common conflict and theme throughout Pamuk's work. The failure of the Ottomans to capture Dobbio is described by the narrator as their failure to attain something pure, perfect.
Ambiguity
Ambiguity is the type of meaning in which a phrase, statement or resolution is not explicitly defined, making several interpretations plausible. A common aspect of ambiguity is uncertainty. It is thus an attribute of any idea or statement ...
of self is a major conflict for the narrator. When the narrator first meets Hoja, Hoja looks as he did, or at least believes he looked, having not seen his reflection in some time. Hoja also realizes this, and as the two men learn more about each other, the realization that Hoja could trade places with him and return to Italy without any problems becomes a source of distress for the narrator. When Hoja can't be bothered to visit the sultan, he sends the narrator in his guise. There is also ambiguity in the final chapter of the book. The
unreliable narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator whose credibility is compromised. They can be found in fiction and film, and range from children to mature characters. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in ''The Rhetoric of Fiction''. While unrel ...
,
many years later, claims that he was inspired to write the story while exchanging stories with a traveler. Whether or not the story actually took place, and if it did, whether or not the narrator was the unnamed slave or Hoja is left unknown. Neither Hoja nor the narrator are mentioned, only a vague 'He'.
See also
*
Master-slave dialectic
References
External links
Review of ''The White Castle''at ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''
''Paris Review'' interview with Orhan Pamukin which ''The White Castle'' is discussed
{{DEFAULTSORT:White Castle, The
1985 novels
Historical novels
Novels by Orhan Pamuk
Novels set in Istanbul
George Braziller books
Novels set in the Ottoman Empire