Naive & the Sentimental Novelist

Orhan Pamuk’s highly acclaimed book of criticism now in an attractive paperback. Full of literary examples and written with a real love for the power of books, The Naïve and the Sentimental Novelist will take its place with other classics like E.M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel, John Gardner’s. The Art of Fiction and James Wood’s How Fiction Works.’ – Business Standard. Fascinating . . . Every novelist will want to read this, and will learn from a master.’— The Daily Telegraph. A pleasure to read.’—The National

What happens within us when we read a novel? And how does a novel create its unique effects, so distinct from those of a painting, a film, or a poem? In this fascinating set of essays, based on the talks he delivered at Harvard University as part of the distinguished Norton Lecture series, Pamuk presents a masterful theory of the novel. Drawing on Friedrich Schiller’s famous distinction between ‘naïve’ writers—those who write spontaneously—and ‘sentimental’ writers—those who are reflective and aware—Pamuk reveals two unique ways of processing and composing the written word. He takes us through his own literary journey and looks at the works of writers such as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Stendhal, Flaubert, Proust, Mann, and Naipaul to describe the singular experience of reading. Unique, nuanced, and passionate, this book will be beloved by readers and writers alike.

About the Author

Orhan Pamuk is the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature for 2006. He is the author of thirteen books including the acclaimed novels My Name is Red, Snow and The Museum of Innocence. His work has been translated into sixty languages. He lives in Istanbul.