EAST LANSING, Mich. — Turkish novelist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature Orhan Pamuk will present the College of Arts and Letters Signature Lecture on Monday, Oct. 1, as part of a series of events celebrating MSU’s Year of Arts and Culture.
He will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the Pasant Theatre, Wharton Center for Performing Arts. Tickets are $20 (free to MSU faculty, staff and students with ID at box office only, limit two); call 1 (800) WHARTON or visit www.whartoncenter.com.
Pamuk is one of the most prominent novelists at work in the world today, known as a humane writer of unique vision. Among his many highly regarded works are “The White Castle” (1991), “The Black Book” (1994), “The New Life” (1997), “My Name is Red” (2001), “Snow” (2004) and “Istanbul: Memories and the City” (2005).
He is currently a professor of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University.
His work has been translated into dozens of languages, and he has received numerous international prizes, including the Nobel Prize in Literature (2006), Le Prix Méditerranée étranger (2006), the Prix Médicis étranger (2005), the Ricarda-Huch Prize (2005) and honorary membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
“We selected Mr. Pamuk for our signature event for the MSU Year of Arts and Culture because he illustrates the college’s focus on arts and humanities in a global context,” said Karin Wurst, dean of the College of Arts and Letters. “His artistic negotiation between East and West, between different cultures, and between historical and contemporary concerns exemplifies the special place the arts and culture occupy in contemporary life.”
Pamuk’s speech at MSU is expected to touch on some of the issues raised during his Nobel lecture, in which he noted that “what literature needs most to tell and investigate today are humanity’s basic fears: the fear of being left outside, and the fear of counting for nothing, and the feelings of worthlessness that come with such fears; the collective humiliations, vulnerabilities, slights, grievances, sensitivities, and imagined insults and the nationalist boasts and inflations that are their next of kind.”
For more information about the lecture, visit www.cal.msu.edu.
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About the MSU Year of Arts and Culture: Arts and culture play a critical role not only in preparing students for a global world, but in nurturing the human spirit and enriching prosperity and quality of life in Michigan. This year the university is celebrating 2007-08 as the MSU Year of Arts and Culture. This initiative comprises activities wrapping around all arts and culture units and academic programs. For more information, visit www.artsandculture.msu.edu.