Black Book
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Summary
Galip gradually discovers that the ordinary people in the streets imitate others simply in order to live, and that Istanbul itself longs for another identity. Just as Galip "becomes Celâl," he receives a mysterious phone call...
The Black Book is a novel as intricate, labyrinthine, and dazzling as a maze: the odd chapters recount Galip's search, while the even chapters consist of Celâl's columns, linking Galip's quest for selfhood to a vast geographical and historical space. Amid the interplay of history and present, magic and reality, sign and solution, self and other, Pamuk fuses suspense, fiction, history, journalism, and autobiography into one, launching an inquiry into the nature of the self, faith, and Turkey's path to modernity.
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers with a deep interest in Istanbul's urban history and cultural heritage
- Lovers of serious fiction with strong literary quality and rich philosophical and metaphorical depth
- Readers willing to follow complex narrative structures and enjoy the pleasures of puzzle-solving and speculation
- Readers who wish to think deeply about identity, memory, and the question of reality
Not a good fit for
- Readers of popular suspense fiction seeking fast pacing, strong plot, and clear resolutions
- Readers impatient with extensive cultural and historical references and inner monologue
Reading tips
- It is advisable to slow down your reading pace; do not rush to clarify every thread—first absorb the distinctive atmosphere and urban texture Pamuk creates.
- Reading alongside visual materials or historical background on Istanbul can help you better appreciate the depth of the city as a 'character' in the novel.
- Pay attention to the mirroring and substitutive relationships among the protagonist Galip, his missing wife Rüya, and her brother Celâl (the columnist)—this is key to understanding the novel's core themes.
About the publisher
Shanghai People's Publishing House is a comprehensive publisher whose list focuses on academic monographs and general-interest titles in philosophy, social sciences, politics and law, economics and management, and history. Among its books are Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties History in the Chinese Dynastic History series; The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy in foreign literature; the Wenjing Classical Translation Illustrated Edition of The Complete Greek Tragedies of Euripides; and works of social theory such as Max Weber's Economy and Society and Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments. Its authors include Wang Zhongluo, J.R.R. Tolkien, Luo Niansheng, and Zhou Zuoren.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 第一部
- 01 卡利普第一次见到如梦
- 02 博斯普鲁斯海峡干涸的那天
- 03 代我向如梦问好
- 04 阿拉丁的店
- 05 绝对幼稚
- 06 班迪师傅的孩子
- 07 卡夫山中的文字
- 08 三剑客
- 09 有人在跟踪我
- 10 眼睛
- 11 我们把记忆遗失在电影院
- 12 吻
- 13 看谁在这里！
- 14 我们全都在等他
- 15 雪夜里的爱情故事
- 16 我必须做自己
- 17 记得我吗？
- 18 黑洞
- 19 城市的符号
- 第二部
- 20 幻影的居所
- 21 你睡不着吗？
- 22 谁杀了大不里士的夏姆士？
- 23 不会说故事的人的故事
- 24 脸孔中的谜
- 25 刽子手与哭泣的脸
- 26 文字之谜与谜之失落
- 27 冗长的棋局
- 28 谜之发现
- 29 我竟然变成了英雄
- 30 我的兄弟
- 31 故事穿入镜子之中
- 32 我不是精神病人，只是你的一个忠实读者
- 33 神秘绘画
- 34 不是说故事的人，而是故事
- 35 王子的故事
- 36 但书写的我
FAQ
Compared with Pamuk's more famous My Name Is Red or The Museum of Innocence, what are the distinguishing features of The Black Book?
What exactly does the 'black book' in the novel refer to?
Does reading this novel require prior knowledge of Turkish history?
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About the author
Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish novelist and the winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Istanbul in 1952, he graduated from the Department of Journalism at Istanbul University. Fifteen of his works have been translated into Chinese, including such representative novels as My Name Is Red, Snow, The Black Book, Istanbul: Memories and the City, A Strangeness in My Mind, and Nights of Plague, as well as The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist, a collection of essays on fiction. Often classified as foreign literature and social fiction, his writing explores the meeting of Eastern and Western cultures and questions of identity. He weaves philosophical reflection through mystery, history, and everyday narrative in a delicate, self-questioning style, exerting a lasting influence on contemporary Turkish literature and on readers worldwide.
Li Jiashan is an author about whom limited public information is available. Two works are currently known under her name, The Black Book and Girl with a Pearl Earring, and her books are commonly classified under foreign literature. With only these two titles, it is difficult to form a complete picture of her life, nationality, or writing chronology, so no speculation is made about her personal history. Judging from the listed works, Li Jiashan's writing appears to lean toward fiction or narrative texts that carry historical, artistic, and suspenseful elements: the title Girl with a Pearl Earring suggests an intertwining of painting and personal destiny, while The Black Book carries connotations of mystery, archives, or hidden past events. Such subjects often emphasize atmosphere, detailed description, and the gradual revelation of characters' inner lives, with narratives moving between reality and memory, truth and enigma. Because public information is limited, the most direct way for readers to understand her style and concerns is still to read these two works themselves and sense their narrative rhythm and thematic orientation from the texts.
