Novel

“The Museum of Innocence” is the physical embodiment of Pamuk’s novel. The protagonist, Kemal, constructs a fortress against time using Füsun’s earrings, hairpins, and 4,213 cigarette butts. Terrified of forgetting, he chooses to solidify memory into physical space. This stands in stark contrast to Proust: while the taste of the madeleine cake visits Marcel by chance, Kemal’s collecting is an act of voluntary imprisonment. Instead of waiting for memory to find him, he builds a space with his own hands to lock it away....