And yet the battle rages on for the city that is difficult to understand to an outsider. Thus, even in a feeling of melancholy for a once mighty city, is still tainted and made even more despairing for the sole fact that the city does not remain completely theirs. Writers write of the beauty of the darkness, but move away and remain under western influence. Poets and artists long to capture the feeling of Istanbul but occupy a style following western art. And even amongst these ruins, lies an influence of western touch. Westerners can name areas of historical importance while Istanbul citizens would use markets and coffee shops to direct people about. Those of the city of Istanbul live in a cultural poverty where the celebrated cultures of the past can only be seen in the ruins. Everything is kept in good condition and the best of the times are reflected in newer arts and culturally celebrated. Westerners live in a time of persevered history. For those who live in the west, this feeling is odd and mysterious. He is able to go on for three pages in his book on all the things in the city that spark the feeling of huzun for him. To Orhan, this feelings has been circulating through his life since childhood. By going about these areas, the people feel clarity and calm and experience the huzun not as a continuous battle to be cured, but as a way of living. The ruins of the old time and the Bosphorus. The few areas of comfort are known to all.
The black and white view of the city is a comfort that they all share and internalize as a nostalgia for a time they cannot regain. Orhan, and by his writings, an extension of Istanbul citizens, feel honor at the huzun. But this is not a depressed and hated feeling. Families crumble, business are lost, ports are set ablaze thus is the way of life. The feeling seeps its way into everything about Istanbul life.
And this feeling does not seclude itself to those passing on the street. Ruins and dirt replace archways and monuments without anything done to keep them in good condition. Huzun, as defined by Orhan Pamuk in “Istanbul – Memories and the City”, is known as a deep set melancholy a pensive sadness that arises for an entire community that is mourning for it’s lost history as a once mighty empire.
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