Yesterday Lee picked up and re-read an article from the New York Times by Joshua Hammer entitled "Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul" (NYT, Sunday, February 2, 2014). When he read it initially back in February, much of the content went over his head -- the places visited, the cultural references, the names mentioned didn't resonate at all.
Now, just a scant two months later, much of the article's content strikes something of a familiar cord. The walking tour taken by the reporter and the novelist moves from one "familiar" location to another. The references to Sufi practioners and volume-filled bookstores and sidewalk cafes and coffee houses reflect observations and recomendations and insights found in other accounts he's read. Istanbul (and to a lesser extent, all of Turkey) now seems just a little less remote and "unknown" than it did earlier in the year before we began our preparations.
Travel does indeed broaden the mind - even before one leaves home!
NOBEL PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR ORHAN PAMUK IN THE BALAT NEIGHBORHOOD
OF ISTANBUL, NEAR THE GOLDEN HORN
Now, just a scant two months later, much of the article's content strikes something of a familiar cord. The walking tour taken by the reporter and the novelist moves from one "familiar" location to another. The references to Sufi practioners and volume-filled bookstores and sidewalk cafes and coffee houses reflect observations and recomendations and insights found in other accounts he's read. Istanbul (and to a lesser extent, all of Turkey) now seems just a little less remote and "unknown" than it did earlier in the year before we began our preparations.
Travel does indeed broaden the mind - even before one leaves home!
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