Amor do passado as an artifact: A blend of Ekphrasis in Orhan Pamuk’s The Museum of Innocence

Abstract

Ekphrasis has been a popular topic in recent years among scholars of both classical and later literature. The latter have been particularly interested in the modern definition of ekphrasis as a description of artwork and the development of global definitions and theories. By citing Pandora stories from the works of Hesiod, we can illustrate the nature and character of ancient ekphrasis in ways that call into question modern theories and demonstrate the vibrancy and complexity of modern literature. Orhan Pamuk knows all the tricks of the European modern and post modern age. He is both a best-selling author and an avant-garde writer who has the ability to see into the soul of everyday objects. The Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk encapsulates his novel The Museum of Innocence (2008) in the frame work of ekphrasis where he brings a Museum into reality after publishing his novel. The meaning of the title Amor do passado suggests past love. In this novel, “collecting” is a central trope, in which not only the protagonist Kemal is collecting the objects for cherishing his memories for his lady love, the author Pamuk himself is in search of the objects that gets readily fixed into his own which later formed the foundation for the novel.