Been a dream so i was following my dreams. But when i was 17 years old i was a replacement for a wonderful pianist and i performed the tchaikovsky piano concerto number one and i thought, wow. Rose and we conclude with arnie glipl cher, the legendary art dealer at the pace gallery. Agnes martin was at the turn of the century. We had pop art happening and the end of abstract impressionism happening and the beginning of minimalism. Many people call martin the beginning of minimalism, shes the end of abstract expressionism because there is brush work, there is a very sensitive application by hand. Minimalism sought to get rid of all possible human marks on the canvas. Rose literature, music, and art when we continue. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Rose orhan pamuk is here, the Nobel Prize Winning author of my name is red, snow and the museum of innocence has just had another novel translated into english. Silent house was written in turkish almost three decades ago. It is set in the summer of 1980 in the leader of turkeys coup. Fatima is visited by her children. They enter into a deep darkness which is visible between the wings of the big front door. Pamuk has also published the innocence of objects, the catalog to the museum of innocence in istanbul which opened early this year. I am pleased to have this friend of our program back at this table. Welcome. Thank you. Rose we visited in istanbul, visitors are making us happy. Everything is fine with the museum. Rose has everything changed in your life since i saw you . I returned back to my writerly persona. So in many so many programs i told you between the ages of seven and 22 i wanted to be a painter then. Between 22 to now im writing novels but the dead artist in me came out, i planned this novel and the museum together, it took almost a decade to collect the objects, write the novel to the objects then do the museum and its open, now its working, its running on its own now im very happy to slightly push it back in my memory. Im busy with the new novel. Very much. Rose okay, whats it called . Its called strangeness in my mind. It chronicles the immigration to istanbul from rural anatolia. And how generation after generation of people made istanbul when i was born into this town 60 years ago it was almost a million and now 14 million and most of these people came from poor parts of turkey. Why did they come . Whey what did they do . They built their own houses were their own hands. They are developed now, we see highrises in those areas of town. The city has changed so much in the last 50 years and now trying to in my new novel that im very busy with trying to chronicle that to the point of view of the dispossessed. Rose many people say a great novel begins with a question. Okay. Here the question is trying to see the life that we have all lived in turkey from the point of view of a person who came to this town late who tried to make a living, who came with a very poor background and tried to adapt to the city. We always saw turkish officials history, turk turkish establishment, myself included, we always saw these people who are coming and imbalancing the cultural projection we have of th city. Trying to see istanbul from the point of view of someone who felt he dont belong, who insists he belongs then some of them get to be very rich, some of them get to be continue to be poor so trying to also go to the moral issues of what makes you successful, was it worth it, this kind of thing. Rose so when youre working on a novel like you are on this one what are you doing . So many things at once. At first there is a research site. First a novel i think of it as subject matter, choosing the subject matter, deciding about that. For years i take various notes. Rose the idea has been in your head. For quite a long time as i get older the ideas are i have so many unwritten novels i am panicking and running around to write them. Some novel december man research and research can be divided into research that i can do myself like reading books or interviewing people. For this i do that. More now i have people who are helping me interview people about their lives, how they built their houses, how they so i combine this information then i invent, change them around, change them around, change them around, rewrite it. Rose this is while youre writing. You invent, change, move, go back . Yes, of course and develop characters meanwhile, then revisit the story, rewrite it so in a way youre you have it on the line level and i still have major changes you think of you develop characters. Then also i have a habit of reading to my acquaintances, friends, and trying to see whether the story works. Reporter you have friends read it i read in process. Im not a shy novelist in that sense i read passages to my friends, even to visitors, some people who are not well acquainted. Rose sit down and listen to me. Yes its also a sweetness. Rose a sharing, too. Yes, uhhuh. So that way i developed and developed this story actually one writes a novel to work some basic points. A story that is also a literary theory about the russian theory about a story is actually something that connects the things that you want to talk about so that your character goes rose a whole bunch of things you want to talk about and you create characters to connect them . Characters and storyline. Say in the novel im now writing i want a scene in which people build with their own homes. Rose they make their own bricks . Yes, they make their own bricks and they buy also remains old houses to make their new houses. So i learn about this and i want to write about this or i want to write slightly about political tensions of coming to the city and having a very conservative attitudes toward life and then experiencing the charms or seductions of modern city life. Rose do you know the last chapter . No, but i know where it will go. That i will it will end up in highrises where there used to be 50 years ago muddy fields and shanty houses. Rose which is happening in istanbul as we speak . This is whats happening, yes and the novel has aspirations to be panoramic but while im deviling, exploring the mind of a Street Vendor whos selling things, a strange turkish liquid at night. It has also connotations of roe man schism with the ottoman empire, so forth and so on. Rose silent house is about the 80s, before the coupe, its a family gathered in anticipation of the coupe . Does that fascinate you . The whole subject matter of the relationship between the turkish people and the military . It does. But not particularly interested in military but since our army was involved in turkish politics for quite a long time and upper classes coup and reliant on the power of arm to protect secular and this was also my family, in a way, for quite a long time. Rose coming out of ataturk, too. Yes, this is the tradition in turkey. So our armys involvement in police is inevitable. Even if you politics is bedesign in the novel. But on the other hand, its not about army, its about civil society. Rose okay, but you and i both have had this conversation before. It is said that p. M. Erdogan has put the military back in the barracks. Yes, im happy about that. That part im happy about Prime Minister is maneuvering, successfully maneuvering to put the army back into barracks. Im happy about that. But that part of turkish history is slightly over now. Rose youre not going to find a coup every several years. Im not expecting a coup but who knows . Coups come from wherever. And but now, turkish politics is now has now left that problem behind. Rose well come back to turkish politics which as you know i have great interest in. Tell me about the silent house and tell me about whats the house in question . Silent house is a story about a Family Gathering perhaps in the manner of russian writers where generations meet and different point of views in a way represent the problems of the nation say this is about a family. The founder of the house who is not alive, was a military doctor and military doctors form young turkish positiveistic opposition to ottoman sultans especially sultan who was for a long time a patriarch and he has young turk and revolutionary ideas but hes exiled to this small Fishermans Village and begins to live there because he cannot return back to istanbul. The idea of dangers of politics is spelled there. Then two generations past the radical jacobian ideas are based on the power of the army doesnt work anymore and unfortunately if they have experience in the 1970s and early 80s, lifes right wing Paramilitary Forces and the left wing marxist forces are shooting each other in the streets. The idea of democracy doesnt work too much because the idea of perhaps tolerance doesnt work too much or the country is so unhappy and economically its so unfrustrated that there is too much tension. The house is where all this family meets and theres an old grandmother who is remembering the radical jacobian ideas of his husband wanted to publish rose this is fatima . Yes, fatima. And so im putting all this together to give a sense of whats happening in the country then, of course, theres a story site. Rose and then the grandchildren. Farouk and matin and hassan. Rose now, hassan is interesting. Hassan is a typical right wing nationalist street guy. Militant of the 1970s. Lots of anger and resentment although he is not a radical islamist he has right wing antiwestern sentiment. Very conservative. Has little paranoias like all of us in fact in that part of the world about the west plotting to do things in turkey. Rose is that simply hisly. In other words, the west has come to do that and so therefore you can never quietly assume it will never happen again or good question, its not over, this kind of imagination that a conspiracy that the western powers are doing nasty things in our country its still generated and, in fact, sometimes western powers help us to feel like that. Make us believe that some conspiracies are right and on the other hand now no that turkey approaches International Community more perhaps because of negotiations for European Union i think turkish peoples understanding of west is more mature. More grown up now that this kind of almost infantile rose but does that have to do with the confidence of turkey about its Economic Growth rate . About its role in the world . About the prominence its plays in the region . Yes, but this confidence has also its bag that turkey is doing well in the last decade economically so well that that gives you something rose and istanbul has become one of the most yes, the story is about that, actually this is some of the parts of the book are the same ground and im writing in my new novel. All these places where there were factories, little Olive Gardens or fig trees and also a fancy summer resort or previous a Fishermans Village and all these places were considered to be part of istanbul now belong to the town and when i read the book this book again i saw that how much of the town had changed, grew, how much of the land scape had changed. All these hills in my childhood that i saw empty if you paint them with the blue crayon will be enough. Now its full of highrises. And the novel is chronicling that change. Too. Rose is that a Welcome Development . In some aspects, if there are highrise it is country is getting rich, economical growth is of course something you welcome. But are people involved in architectural change, urban change . There we may have problems. Rose and should you look out for the price you pay for that so that you can minimize that price . I. E. In terms of what it does to community, what it does to cull sdmur what it does to i think when i think part of this problematic growth, uncontrolled growth where intelligentsia is saying its too uncontrolled, whats happening . Lets have more, this is whats happening and urban change is getting very political in turkey because two sides are the ideas both ideas are respectable, but what is more important is that we have to have more transparency, peoples involvement in these urban change decisions. But behind it lies the fact that economy is booming so fast that no one can control it anymore. For me the ahasing thing is that i can say that in relation to silent house is that ive been living for 60 years. Thereve vn times that ive come back this or that that the change i saw in the first 45 years less than the change i saw in the last 15 years. Wow. How is it different . Change in the last 15 . Is it just velocity . Velocity. Immense economical political change is more development of say development of free speech and liberal society and because of economics and its hard to control turkey anymore. Its so rich and coming that its hard to crush it down and control it. Rose as i a writer do you and because of the run in you had you were criticized for criticizing turkey, correct . Yes. Rose they arrested you. No. Rose well, they didnt arrest you but i was fined but then it was dropped because of international pressure. Rose exactly. I understand that. Do you fear at all now what you have to be careful that you make sure what you say is understood for what you mean . These are two Different Things. I am upset about what i say may be changed a bit, but in the end i im not the prize winner. Internationally recognized. Im not afraid of myself. I can say whatever i want. Rose do you feel like youre safe because they would not i dont want to go into this. I have selfconfidence, enough selfconfidence whotoexpress myself but i have to note that all my journalist friends and all Journalistic Community is a bit buried worried about what what to write and say. Theyre quoting each other. Rose some journalists have been arrested. But also we have to dont forget this is their tradition here. This is not a new development. We hope these things dont continue that while im happy about erdogan erdogans fighting the army im getting upset more and more about the journalists. Rose slight authoritarianism. Slight authoritarianism is unfortunately beginning and this year is deeply related to the fact that unfortunately turkey could not make peace with with the angry kurds. Rose and thats what they worry about. And once the bombs are exploding its hard to demand once the bombs are exploding both sides get radical and then it clashed and authoritarianism and political flashes get severe. Rose so you think thats the tenor of turkey today. Whether the government s getting authoritarian is troubling all of us. Rose but the secular state remains . Of course, no problem about that. Sigs secular state remains and demoacy is working in turkey. Rose and erdogan goes around the world preaching secularism. He went to cairo and preached secularism. Im happy about that. Rose go ahead. Im happy that erdogan is preaching secularism in cairo. Im also happy about arab spring you look at libya, you dont know whats going on there, syria, you dont know how thats going to end. Its the rise of islamists in the middle east. Whats your perspective and where it might be going . Okay, first, im a writer. I judge events, human point of view instead of ideological preconceived ideas and for me democracy is the criteria for democracy, i believe in democracy because its morally important. Its a moral issue democracy means first of all morally that you go to people and ask their opinions in that sense im very happy about the arab spring about whether its in turkey or say in cairo the army is marginalize add bit in cairo. They continue to hold their old power maybe are losing some of in the turkey. In other parts of the middle east the army is various armies who are heart felt defenders of secularism but also was abusing their position, are losing their power. And im morally happy about that but that is raising another problem that we are happy to have democracy but unfortunately people are not rooting for the pa t parties that we want them to work for. And now yes, these are the dilemmas of democracy. Democracy is not only people its not a democracy where you a democracy is its a surprising thing that people want a party you dont want. Rose sometimes revolutions are started by some people and finished by others. I dont think that this is i hope thats not a revolution, thats an authoritarian ends up being authoritarian so i dont think thats happening. Especially in arabic countries. Thats not happening. We may see that may be developing towards that way or that way. But i think were both in turkey and in arabic countries we have to respect peoples will. Rose is there in your mind not like a trilogy or something but is there in your mind a sense that before you finish you want to write a whole range of things that hang together as the history of, as an examination of, as a reflection of. I would probably as i get older would write i want to write more and more about turkish middleclasss, upper middleclasss, infor situation with western ideas and how can history turn around and a new thing appeared not entirely that upper class secular reformers that my family also and im also believing those reforms believed but something new, something strange. Something that never existed. Perhaps a sort of nonwestern modernity is coming about. That i would love to go in details and chronicle more. Rose i hope you will. This book is called silent house orhan pamuk. Back in a moment. Stay with us. Rose lang lang is here. He is a pianist sensation who sells that out concert halls around the world. He is known for the virtuosity and passion of his performances. He is amassed an impressive repertoire that includes tchaikovsky and rock mononovember to bauk. Here he is playing beethoven. Rose where was that . Vienna. Rose ah its funny to see you playing yourself. See yourself playing . Its quite funny to see myself replay every time i see it im like thats interesting. Rose youll be at Carnegie Hall october 30 in a benefit for the lang lang foundation. What is that . We started this foundation four years ago and our aim is to helping the next generation through music. Rose generation of americans . Generation of International Starting in america and influencing the world. Rose good for you. Yes, so we have this concert. Rose and theres a new c. D. Out which i have in my hand which is called the chopin album. A favorite for you or there are a lot of my favorite songs which i practice really hard when i was a kid and now i start practices like oh, its getting easier. What composer is hardest for you . I would say braums. Rose really . Yeah, brahms. Rose and why is that . His personality is a very strong personality and the music is always going deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper. Somehow when you play his music you need to be completely quiet and let the air flows. Rose when you ha