Nobel – Politics and Art

Interesting choice made by the Nobel Committee. Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish author, is unusually well known and widely translated for an author outside the usual western orbit. And, as so often with the Nobel choices, there’s a political dimension here as well. Pamuk has been on trial in Turkey for his implicit critiques of the government and of cultural attitudes. They–the Nobel squad–don’t always get it right. But this time they did, seems to me–Pamuk’s art rises above political considerations. He’s the real thing. And he’s brave and forthright as well.