FRS 003 —
Sec. 001 — (1
unit) — CRN 53609 — W 4:10-5:00pm — 2051 Kemper
Reading a Political Novel: Orhan Pamuk’s Snow
Instructor: Ahmet Palazoglu, Department of Chemical Engineering &
Materials Science, College of Engineering
Description: When The Economist and The New York
Times announced
their "best books of the year" lists in 2004, one of the books they
had in common was Snow by Orhan Pamuk. Pamuk is a Turkish novelist who
has won the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2003 for his book My
Name is Red.
He is considered to be a premier storyteller of our times and his name is often
circulated among the Nobel candidates. His latest book Snow is a story
of a poet named Ka caught in the political drama of
contemporary Turkey
that is reflected in the divide between fundamental Islam and secularism. The
story takes place in the town of Kars in northeastern Turkey where
there has been
a rash of suicides among female students forbidden to wear
headscarves in school.
As the snow cuts off all communications and blocks all roads to and
from the town,
the story takes on a surreal atmosphere, setting the stage for discussing and
challenging the current political discourse in Turkey. Pamuk himself points out
that this is a deliberate attempt to write a political novel. In this Seminar,
we will study his assertion as we read and discuss his novel. We will
also study
the political backdrop that helped conceive the story. A key element
of this discussion
will be the term “political novel.” We will explore what
Pamuk’s
understanding of the political novel is and how is it reflected in
Snow.
Format: The seminar will meet for one hour each week. The time
will be primarily devoted to the reading and discussion of the novel.
Around the
sixth week, the students will decide on topics of interest on which they will
write their essay. The remaining meetings will focus on the
discussion of specific
topics and may include guests to explore some topics in depth. The
written essay
will be maximum 2500 words in length. The novel is the main text for
the course.
Grading: Students will be graded by their
participation
in discussions (50%) and by their essay (50%).
About the Instructor: Professor Palazoglu is a faculty member
in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. His research
focuses on modeling and analysis of nonlinear dynamic systems and
process control.
He is the co-author of Introduction to Process Control to be published
by CRC Press in 2005. In 1998, he has published Devrimci
Petunyalar (Revolutionary
Petunias), a collection of Alice Walker’s poems in Turkish.