The Swedish Academy announced today that it was giving Pamuk the award based on his "work in connection with symbols of cultural clashes." Also noted in the statement from the Academy was that Pamuk "in the search for the melancholy soul of the city he lives in, found new symbols of both the clashing and the unity of cultures."
Awarded by the Swedish Academy, the Literature Prize comes with a cheque for 10m kronor (£740,000). The Academy said: "In the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city, (Pamuk) has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures."
It added: "Pamuk has said that growing up, he experienced a shift from a traditional Ottoman family environment to a more Western-oriented lifestyle. "He wrote about this in his first published novel, a family chronicle... which in the spirit of Thomas Mann follows the development of a family over three generations."
 | Orhan Pamuk Born in Istanbul in 1952 Intially trained to be an architect Books translated into over 40 languages Novels "My Name is Red", "Snow" and "The White Castle" hailed as dealing with East/West culture clashes Prosecuted for "insulting Turkishness" in 2005 |
He has faced prosecution for talking about the murder of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in Turkey during World War I and thousands of Kurds in subsequent years.
Under a 2005 law it is illegal for anyone to insult Turks, the republic or Turkish Grand National Assembly. The charges have since been dropped.
Last year's winner was British playwright Harold Pinter, a vociferous critic of US foreign policy. That award triggered accusations that the Swedish Academy was anti-American, left-leaning and politically motivated.
The prize is awarded to "the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency". It is given to recognise a body of work, rather than an individual book. The Peace Prize will be announced on Friday.
Güncelleme Tarihi: 20 Eylül 2018, 18:16
