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Orhan Pamuk and Dog Son of Dog: Voices From the Other Side of the Border
http://www.sabahenglish.com/entertainment/11170.html
11 September, 2010
A new American novel draws powerful parallels with Pamuk's Snow
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- In a forthcoming novel of ideas
mirroring the breakneck paradigm shifts of the 21st century, Los
Angeles writer Armen Melikian engages in a direct conversation with
Turkish author Orhan Pamuk's Snow. Melikian's novel, titled Journey to
Virginland, tackles a broad array of philosophical, religious,
political, sexual, and gender issues discussed by Pamuk, and in a
sense continues Snow's narrative on the other side of the border from
Kars. Melikian's antihero, a modern day Diogenes called Dog,
substantially widens the scope of the investigation which Pamuk's
protagonist, Ka, has undertaken to expose a reactionary cultural
milieu that has spawned an epidemic of suicides by young women.
Melikian is a prodigious new voice in American literature. Commenting
on his debut novel, Paul McCarthy, a professor of literature at Ulster
University and a New York Times bestselling author, writes, "I am
struck by the extraordinary writing, vision, and, perhaps rarest of
all, originality of Journey to Virginland. In the best sense, I'm
reminded of George Orwell's classics, and other authors of similar
stature, though there is no true parallel possible with a novel as
unique in concept and execution as Journey to Virginland."
Pamuk's story takes place mostly in Turkey's Kars region; Melikian's
novel unfolds in neighboring Armenia. Both societies have for
centuries shared Ottoman rule. Both Melikian and Pamuk have been at
turns acclaimed and ostracized in their homelands. Melikian lived in
Armenia for three years before being exiled as a result of his
devilishly iconoclastic writings.
Yet Armenia is but a point of departure in Melikian's far-reaching
critical compass. Soon enough, the reader is given a box seat before
the seismic shifts of our times, the pivotal cultural and spiritual
failures of a world held hostage to hypercapitalism, post-9/11
realpolitik, and an ominous resurgence of nationalism and religious
extremism.
Journey to Virginland stands apart by the exhilarating paths of change
which it proposes. Its dazzling scope, sheer storytelling prowess, and
expansion of the novelistic endeavor as an artistic medium per se,
establish this novel as a rare literary enterprise.
For more information about Orhan Pamuk's unexpectedly appearing and
archetypal "double," whom Pamuk once searched for in Istanbul, or to
get your copy of Journey to Virginland, visit
www.JourneyToVirginland.com
SOURCE Armen Melikian
From: A. Papazian
http://www.sabahenglish.com/entertainment/11170.html
11 September, 2010
A new American novel draws powerful parallels with Pamuk's Snow
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- In a forthcoming novel of ideas
mirroring the breakneck paradigm shifts of the 21st century, Los
Angeles writer Armen Melikian engages in a direct conversation with
Turkish author Orhan Pamuk's Snow. Melikian's novel, titled Journey to
Virginland, tackles a broad array of philosophical, religious,
political, sexual, and gender issues discussed by Pamuk, and in a
sense continues Snow's narrative on the other side of the border from
Kars. Melikian's antihero, a modern day Diogenes called Dog,
substantially widens the scope of the investigation which Pamuk's
protagonist, Ka, has undertaken to expose a reactionary cultural
milieu that has spawned an epidemic of suicides by young women.
Melikian is a prodigious new voice in American literature. Commenting
on his debut novel, Paul McCarthy, a professor of literature at Ulster
University and a New York Times bestselling author, writes, "I am
struck by the extraordinary writing, vision, and, perhaps rarest of
all, originality of Journey to Virginland. In the best sense, I'm
reminded of George Orwell's classics, and other authors of similar
stature, though there is no true parallel possible with a novel as
unique in concept and execution as Journey to Virginland."
Pamuk's story takes place mostly in Turkey's Kars region; Melikian's
novel unfolds in neighboring Armenia. Both societies have for
centuries shared Ottoman rule. Both Melikian and Pamuk have been at
turns acclaimed and ostracized in their homelands. Melikian lived in
Armenia for three years before being exiled as a result of his
devilishly iconoclastic writings.
Yet Armenia is but a point of departure in Melikian's far-reaching
critical compass. Soon enough, the reader is given a box seat before
the seismic shifts of our times, the pivotal cultural and spiritual
failures of a world held hostage to hypercapitalism, post-9/11
realpolitik, and an ominous resurgence of nationalism and religious
extremism.
Journey to Virginland stands apart by the exhilarating paths of change
which it proposes. Its dazzling scope, sheer storytelling prowess, and
expansion of the novelistic endeavor as an artistic medium per se,
establish this novel as a rare literary enterprise.
For more information about Orhan Pamuk's unexpectedly appearing and
archetypal "double," whom Pamuk once searched for in Istanbul, or to
get your copy of Journey to Virginland, visit
www.JourneyToVirginland.com
SOURCE Armen Melikian
From: A. Papazian