Introduction
Hamilton’s “The City Always Wins” and Pamuk’s “Istanbul” are two major literary works that describe the development of cities, their historical heritage, and the way they reflect the culture of the country and its people. At first glance, the books seem different as “The City Always Wins” deals with a revolutionary movement bitterly suppressed by the government and “Istanbul” describes the influence of Western culture on the traditional Turkish city. However, there are many parallels between the two works. This paper hypothesizes that the books are united by powerful descriptions of city life and culture, and the processes of transformations that take place at all level – economic, cultural, architectural – within the cities.
Urban Environment as a Reflection of Continuity Gap
Traditionally, cities are viewed as ‘frozen in time’ entities, the changes in which take place so gradually that they often go unnoticed by the inhabitants. However, if a person lives away from his or her native city and then comes back, the changes seem drastic and mostly unexpected. This fact shows that the cities are living organisms that are in the process of constant transformation. The transformation may be the result of cultural development or of drastic events within city walls, but is it always there. Hamilton’s “The City Always Wins” and Pamuk’s “Istanbul” both show how cities change in response to the outer events, and, conversely, how the transformation of city infrastructure and look breeds the changes in city life.
Different historical contexts have different impact on the representation of the city. Thus, Constantinople has been the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire for more than a thousand years, a European city with deep-rooted traditions and culture. After its seizure by the Turks, not only Constantinople became Istanbul, but it was radically transformed from European to Western city. After some decades, the city again underwent the process of westernization, vividly described by Pamuk (2017) in his novel “Istanbul.” The author in his book portrays the penetration of Turkish culture by European values, the process that finds reflection in the look of the city. Thus, the abundance of advertising, western names of companies, shops and magazines seem to indicate that this is a European city, but in fact Europeanization here is superficial (Almas, 2018). Mosques, dozens of minarets, calls to prayer, the whole historical entourage speak of adherence to traditions. Pamuk (2017, p. 101) writes,
“[…] In Istanbul the remains of a glorious past civilization are everywhere visible. No matter how ill-kept, no matter how neglected or hemmed in they are by concrete monstrosities, the great mosques and other monuments of the city […] inflict heartache on all who live among them”.
This heartache Pamuk speaks about is caused by the destitute state of this inheritance: historical figures are pale and architecture is decaying. The author feels torn between two cultures – the destroyed Ottoman and the inculcated European. As Pamuk notes, by the name of some events it is possible to determine exactly where people are – in the East or in the West. While traces of the former great Ottoman culture are found everywhere, the artifacts of the new “Europeanized” culture do not give a sense of belonging to the past (Narayan, 2022). Thus, the city is torn between its historic heritage and the present time, with the transformation reflecting the culture shift from east to west.
“The city always wins” describes the revolutionary movement in Cairo, a city changed by an uprisal. The novel is divided into three parts: present, past, and future, each of which shows the city’s transformation. The city outlook is closely connected with the events that take place there. Thus, the novel features Maspero, radio and television centers, and the morgue as main buildings around which the action takes place. This choice is not random as it allows to depict the governmental efforts to suppress the uprisal through the choice of places that Hamilton describes.
Maspero is a strategic facility that symbolizes progressive ideas and liberal transformation. The very fact that Maspero is not taken reflects the idea that freedom is yet to come and heralds defeat for revolutionary forces. The morgue, on the other hand, is a symbol of death and decay associated with the uprisal (Boehmer & Davies, 2021). The history of suppression is portrayed in buildings and streets, while revolutionary undercurrent is heard as distant echoes. Hamilton (2017, p. 147) describes Cairo as “a city of thousands of years past piled high upon each moment of the living present”. Thousand years of oppression seen in the city’s architecture is measured against uprisal scenes and the gloom that envelops the city at present. The time planes of past, present and future are intertwined in the city look that at the same time portrays the end of past, confusion of the present and hopes for the future. Thus, Hamilton (2017, p. 10) writes,
“Cairo is jazz. Not lounge jazz, not the commodified lobby jazz that works to blanch history, but the heat of New Orleans and gristle of Chicago: the jazz that is beauty in the destruction of the past, the jazz of an unknown future, the jazz that promises freedom from the bad old times.”
Hamilton (2017) paints a picture of rebels who believe that the history of people, dead in the flame of revolution, will be incorporated in the city architecture. Nothing in the city history passes without a trace, and this piece of history will find its place in the cities’ buildings, gardens and squares. Thus, through city transformation Hamilton states that though the revolutionary movement is defeated, aspirations for freedom are likely once again to change the city look in the future.
Both books portray the city as a living organism liable to changes that reflect events, traditions and cultural shifts. Each epoque brings certain modifications to the city outlook, be these foreign signboards, new shops and architectural trends or destruction and decline caused by a revolution. In truth, the city is shaped not by designers and planners but by the people who live there, their hopes and aspirations. As these aspirations and perceptions change, the city outlook is modified in response to the demand of citizens who live there.
Urban Environment as a Reflection of People’s Mood
The city infrastructure and look often reflect the mood of the people who live there. It is no secret that the most beautiful cities are those where urban infrastructure, transportation and monuments are well-maintained to please the eye of citizens and tourists. Vise versa, in times of crisis cities tend to have a shabby, desolate look with the walls of many buildings painted in graffiti and heaps of rubbish in the streets. Hamilton’s “The City Always Wins” and Pamuk’s “Istanbul” both reflect this paradigm, portraying the citizens’ emotions through a vivid picture of the cities, one in turmoil and the other in decay.
Hamilton (2017) depicts Cairo as a heart of darkness, gloomy and noisy. The noise of the city is heard against many rebel cries, suppressing them in a united rumble of traffic, machinery and governmental propaganda. However, at the premises of the city, where the city resound subsides, voices of freedom are more pronounced and promise liberation from oppression and bonds. The uprisal brings darkness in the city, darkness of streets where rebels creep from governmental forces, and darkness of death that awaits them at every corner. Hamilton (2017) portrays the impact of many political deaths on people, the shock and incomprehension they cause, the silent awe. From the city center darkness penetrates into people’s hearts, making them gloomy and distant. People mourn their relatives, children, and friends and the association of death and darkness becomes predominant in the text (Sami, 2021). The morgue and its forbidding walls symbolize loss of all hope, however small, and victory for the governmental forces.
In Pamuk’s “Istanbul” the city is black and white, inhabited by ghosts rather than real people, a city whose geography consists of memories. By exploring the city’s districts Pamuk (2006) shows the greatness and splendor of old days, dimmed by the encroach of Western civilization. Pamuk’s travels in his memories to the ‘good old days’ have a well-defined geography of the real city, starting from Nisantashi to Jihangir and exploring ancients and modern streets, minarets and towers.
Pamuk (2006) sees Nisantashi as the center of Westernization of Turkey, its western outpost. Nisantashi was once a modern district where the richest families of the city lived and the tram line took anyone willing through the whole of Istanbul Europe – along Istiklal to the half-sleeping Bosporan villages. The newly built Hilton Hotel stood alone on a hill, towering over the Bosphorus and surrounding areas, and was the center of western culture in the city. Costumes were sewn here, European cakes were served in the pastry shop, and weddings were celebrated in the ballroom. All Western novelties appeared here for the first time, and newspapers sent their special correspondents to cover the events. However, the glory of the district has considerably dimmed casting melancholy over this area with chic but empty boutiques, and cafes unsuccessfully posing as Parisian (Deriu, 2020). People may no longer come to the district to try cola, watch movie stars or eat a hamburger, but the chairs and fountains in the huge lobby of the hotel have already become a monument to the twentieth century.
Remembering Nisantashi, however, Pamuk (2006) does not regret the closed tram line, or even the Ottoman mansions, which began to be demolished during his childhood. What he regrets is the air of joyfulness and hope that was there, and which gave way to sorrow and sadness at the sight of the decay. Not far from Nisantashi is another secret and ancient Istanbul landmark, Cezayir Sokağı, or, as it is called, French Street, a narrow descent to the Bosphorus, all filled with colored tables of various cafes. This is a kind of Istanbul Pamuk describes – Istanbul, which does its best to imitate some other city. At first glance, the city seems harsh and cold, but on closer inspection it becomes clear that the city is just sad and shares the mood of its inhabitants (Deriu, 2020). It is sad about the former glory and splendor, greatness and power, sad about the past, and it is this sadness as well as the mix of cultures that make Istanbul so cozy and attractive.
At night, Istanbul belongs to memories, the melancholy of the crowd, an oppressive feeling that unites millions of people, the entire population of the huge city of Istanbul. Pamuk (2006, p. 6) writes, “For me it has always been a city of ruins and of end-of-empire melancholy. I’ve spent my life either battling with this melancholy or (like all İstanbullus) making it my own.” Thus, the city reflects the predominant mood of its citizens and its outer decay is a reflection of inhabitants’ loss of faith in the glory of their city.
Urban Infrastructures and Their Role in the Depiction of Cities
Hamilton’s (2017) description of Cairo is characterized by numerous layers of planned and unplanned urbanization that allow to “order and ratio and martial” city space. From the city arrangements the inhabitants’ values and prejudices can be inferred, which are obvious in African and South American cities built by colonists. Cairo’s city planning reflects the ideas of British colonists who occupied Egypt in the 17th century. The city is divided into areas of blocks of flats with segregational city panning that in the past helped the colonists to control the city (Boehmer & Davies, 2018). In his novel, Hamilton (2017) portrays how the city planning elaborated by British colonists help governmental forces to suppress the rebellion; and the intersection of present and past at this stage makes the narration more vivid and colourful.
The geometric planning of the city is associated with straight streets across which the governmental forces march to defeat rebels. At the same time, city infrastructure reminds of the seizure of Cairo by British forces. The second layer of city planning in Hamilton’s novel is that of people who live in the city and change it according to their needs. Hamilton (2017, p.10) describes it as “the tireless rhythms of salesmen and hawkers and car horns and gas peddlers all out in ownership of their city”. This second layer is imposed on the first one, creating the city space structured on the one hand by colonial infrastructure and on the other by citizens who aspire for a better life within Cairo (Sami, 2021). This clash of two layers reflects the clash between governmental and rebel forces, so that the fight between the new and old order is reflected in the city portrayed as a living organism. Physical and emotional involvement of citizens in Cairo’s everyday life helps to reshape the colonial look of the city by redefining its infrastructure geared to the needs of people and not the needs of the government.
Pamuk’s (2006) “Istanbul” exhibits multiple layers of city infrastructure as well. The city planning shows how various cultures have collided and interacted in the course of historical development. The structure of the novel resembles concentric circles: starting with a story about his own home, family, his childhood and youth, the writer proceeds to describe the nearby streets and districts of the city, gradually expanding the geography of the narrative (Narayan, 2022). As a result, the author depicts Istanbul as a ‘lost paradise’, involving the reader in a journey through the old streets, canals, squares and secluded corners of the city.
Moreover, the image of Istanbul created by Pamuk (2006) is formed by the impressions of writers, artists, historians, travelers, and residents of the city. In his novel, the writer reveals not only geographical but also historical layers, telling the stories of the inhabitants of Istanbul and exploring historical signs that testify to different époques. In “Istanbul,” Pamuk (2006) manages to reveal new symbols of the clash and change of cultures, portraying the city as background for the development of this or that story. It can be said that the image of the city serves as a key for the understanding of the novel since it helps to create historical and cultural context through which the fate of the country and the people is considered.
Conclusion
In the modern world, the level of urbanization is constantly growing, and with it the role of cities is changing. This is due to the attraction of different types of resources – intellectual, financial, educational, industrial, – the rapid spread and development of technologies, the intensive pace of life and professional activity. Modern sociologists, urbanists and urban planners assign culture a key role in urban development and the creation of the most favorable urban environment.
City development has always remained one of the major issues that exited thinkers, writers and philosophers. Many prominent writers see cities as living organisms that reflect the events that take place within their area. Both Pamuk and Hamilton show how city infrastructure is formed by the people and how culture may shape city look. Depicting the clash of historical plats, the authors define the city as intersection of historical and geographical events, that are instrumental in forming a city’s unique look. The authors assert that a city creates special atmosphere and sets mood of the citizens who live there.
References
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Deriu, D. (2020). The City of Collective Melancholy: Revisiting Pamuk’s Istanbul. Architecture and Culture, 8(1), 69-93.
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Pamuk, O. (2006). Istanbul. Vintage.
Sami, H. G. (2021). The city and its martyrs: Cairo as the site of an alternative historiography in Omar Robert Hamilton’s The City Always Wins. Journal of the African Literature Association, 15(3), 379-393.