"Snow", a novel by Orhan Pamuk, was translated into Armenian

PanARMENIAN.Net - A novel having the greatest demand in Europe, Orhan Pamuk's "Snow" is now available to the Armenian reader thanks to Hakob Soghomonyan who spent two years for translating the book. Knowing about it beforehand, the author refused honorary payments.



As mentioned by Lilit Grigoryan, Head of Armenian National and Cultural Society, the novel published in 1000 copies was translated from Russian, as there are no Turkish literature translators in Armenia.



During the presentation ceremony, Rouben Hovsepyan, writer and editor of "Droshak" newspaper noted, "With his novel, Orhan Pamuk revealed the callous Armenian trace seen from behind the snow covering the historical Armenian town no longer populated by Armenians."



"Apart from its cognitive value, the novel also reveals realities never described by any Turkish writer so far," Lilit Galstyan added.



The developments take place in Kars. A young Turkish poet permanently residing in Germany arrives there to investigate suicides of young women who ended their lives as sign of protest against constraint on Muslim headscarves. The sudden snowfall brings the author face to face with popular uprising caused by Turkish government's unrestrained desire to Europeanize the Muslim state. In addition to the 1000 copies published in Eastern Armenian language, the Western Armenian version of the book will be published in Lebanon in 500 examples.



A contemporary Turkish writer and laureate of several national and international awards, Ferit Orhan Pamuk was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006. In 2005, the Turkish Government sued him for making the following statement in an interview with the Swiss Das Magazin periodical (February 2005), "One million Armenians and thirty thousand Kurds were murdered in Turkey. Nobody voices the fact, and I am hated because I speak about it." The writer currently resides in New York. His works are available in more than 40 languages.