Here, perhaps, we have arrived at the heart of our story. How much can we ever know about the love and pain in another’s heart? How much can we hope to understand those who have suffered deeper anguish, greater deprivation, and more crushing disappointments than we ourselves in the shoes of the rest, how much would they really understand the wrenched millions suffering around them? So it is when Orhan the novelist peers into the dark corners of his poet friend’s difficult and painful life: How much can he really see?
from Orhan Pamuk “Snow” (Translated by Maureen Freely)
Amsterdam, The Netherlands in December, 2010.
