Photographs and History in Istanbul: Memories and the city

Abstract

Since the invention of photography it has found itself a unique place in autobiography literature. Having more than a direct relationship, photographs introduce a complex play of signifiers in a text. The language frames and explains a photograph that is used; photographs address the question of memory in a text. Orhan Pamuk’s Istanbul: Memories and the City is a reminiscence of his early life and the Old Istanbul. The photographs of Pamuk, his family and the Istanbul he grew up in punctuate the flow of the narrative effectively.