Late night lit

Orhan Pamuk's memoir, "Istanbul", has been a fabulous book to read, especially if one happens to awaken in the wee hours and cannot immediately return to sleep. It's writing that is especially wonderful to me as it is not predictable, and often has a dreamlike or even nightmarish quality to it. Thus it fits into a sleepless patch of the night beautifully. About midway through the book is a chapter called,"Resat Ekram Kocu's Collection of Facts and Curiosities: The Istanbul Encyclopedia." The work in that chapter name was the unfinished effort by a writer who claimed he was creating "the world's first encyclopedia about a single city." Pamuk describes Kocu as "...one of those 'huzun'-drenched souls who helped create an image of a twentieth-century Istanbul as a half-finished city afflicted with melancholy. 'Huzun' defines his life, gives his work its hidden logic, and sets him on the lonely course that can only be his final defeat, but - as with other writers working in a similar vein - he did see it as central and certainly did not give it much thought. Indeed, Kocu Resat Ekrem Kocu, far from seeing his melancholy as proceeding from his history, his family, or his city, regarded his 'huzun' as innate.
As for the attendant withdrawal from life and the conviction that life entailed accepting defeat from the start - he did not think of these as Istanbul's legacy. On the contrary, Istanbul was his consolation."
"Huzun" is the Turkish word for melancholy, but Pamuk devotes a chapter to explaining its deeper meanings. It seems to tinge his memories and observations, from descriptions of school days, to the amazing photographs he chose to accompany his text. I regret being two thirds done with this book. I have learned much from it. His reflections in the chapter called "Religion" are worth the price of admission to me, in what they reveal about the results of the strong Westernization drive the country has been undergoing since Attaturk.
I'm now into the chapter called "Under Western Eyes", which is a fascinating look at the effects the work of Western authors' writings on the city had on Istanbul's writers, as well as on the city itself.