Orhan Pamuk can be criticized for many reasons, but the most damning reason is “his knowledge and command of Turkish language is dismal” — I completely agree with this claim, of which there are many evidences; you can easily find them by browsing through critics of his work in Turkish literary circles.

Interestingly the very first book of Pamuk I read was “The New Life” (Yeni Hayat) published in 1994, but I read it in English in 1997. I was waiting for the arrival of my son, during the month of May. Perhaps these were very special times for me and I was quietly emotional; I was deeply moved by the book, and believed then it would eventually rank among the top ten Turkish novels.

But remember, I read it in English. The translator was a Turkish woman who is an English teacher in the midwest, named Güneli Gün. I didn’t know her at the time, but discovered more about her later, and I read one of her novels “On the Road Baghdad” a few years later. I think this book was translated to Turkish.

Here is the short thesis of this post: I now realize that Güneli Gün did not just translate Orhan Pamuk’s book, she rewrote it in English! Yes I believe that because “Yeni Hayat” in Turkish is written terribly, and clearly shows Pamuk’s inability to form coherent or even correct Turkish sentences.

Therefore, Yeni Hayat does not definitely belong to the top Turkish novels. It was a strange experiment: an excellent English novel, overwritten on a weak Turkish draft.

I will probably write more about this later.