Lesson 8. Treasures in Myself

A Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech by Orhan Pamuk

◎ 다음 문장이 들어갈 곳을 고르세요.

I’m also confident that this award will meet with the approval and delight of the people of Turkey.

Today, I stand before the members of the Swedish Academy who have awarded me this great prize.❶ It’s an enjoyable burden because I’m honored to be recognized in this way.  ❷ We should celebrate this prize as an honor for Turkish literature, which has a great history and great importance.❸ I write in the Turkish language❹; I’m part of this tradition of literature and I believe that I represent it as a prize winner.❺

A writer is someone who spends years patiently trying to discover the person hidden inside himself and the world that has made him who he is.

I’m very pleased that the Nobel Prize Committee has not only chosen to honor my work, but that it has also recognized that the city of Istanbul serves as a symbol of cultural integration between East and West in my novels.❶ More than anything, I’m a novelist.❷ But for me, an author’s job is not only to write great books, but to create something that people can discuss.❸ I hope this prize will allow me to present my views to a greater audience than before. ❹ When I think of writing, what comes to my mind first is not a novel, a poem, or literary tradition; instead, I think of a person who shuts himself in a room, sits down at a table, and looks inward. By doing so, he is able to build a new world with his words.❺ Writing is the act of turning this inward gaze into words, the act of studying the world with patience and joy.

The stones that are used by writers are words. We hold them in our hands and think about the ways that each of them is connected to the others.

As I sit at my table, for days, months, and years, slowly adding new words to an empty page, I feel as if I’m creating a brand new world.❶ It’s as if I’m bringing the person hidden inside of me to life, the same way a construction worker might build a bridge or a building, stone by stone. ❷ Sometimes we look at them from far away, and sometimes we touch them with our fingers.❸ Year after year, we move these words around and use them to create new worlds. ❹ The secret to being a writer is not inspiration. It’s stubbornness and patience. ❺ There is a lovely Turkish saying that translates as to dig a well with a needle. It seems to me that this must have been said with writers in mind. In my novel, My Name is Red, I wrote about old Persian artists who drew the same horse over and over, so that they would eventually be able to recreate that beautiful horse even with their eyes closed. Those artists represent writers, as well as my own life.

◎ 다음 글 (A) 바로 다음에 이어질 내용의 순서를 적으세요.

(A) The angel of inspiration visits some writers regularly and ignores others most of the time. But it prefers hopeful and confident authors.

(B) It shows him the stories, images, and dreams that will help create the world he wishes to build. If I think back to the time I spent writing the books to which I have devoted my entire life, I’m most surprised by those moments when I felt as if the words weren’t coming from my own imagination.

(C) The time when a writer feels most lonely, when he doubts his efforts, his dreams, and the value of his writing is the time when inspiration will most likely choose to come to him.

(D) At those times, it seemed as though the sentences, dreams, and pages that have made me so happy were coming from some other power, which generously gave them to me as a gift.

I believe literature is the most valuable treasure that humanity has gathered in its attempts to understand itself.

❶ But even though they shut themselves alone in a room, writers soon discover that they are not as alone as they thought.❷ They are accompanied by all of the stories that were written in the past. ❸ They are accompanied by tradition. Societies, tribes, and cultures grow more intelligent, richer, and more advanced if they pay attention to the words of their authors. ❹ I believe that writers examine secret wounds inside ourselves, wounds so secret that we are barely aware of them. ❺ By understanding these wounds, we are able to make them part of our writing.

◎ 다음 글  바로 다음에 이어질 내용의 순서를 적으세요.

A writer talks of things that everyone knows but does not know they know.

(A) To explore this knowledge, and to watch it grow, is an enjoyable thing. The reader is able to visit a world that is both familiar and miraculous.

(B) My confidence comes from the belief that all human beings are the same, and that others have secret wounds like mine.

(C) Therefore, I have faith that they will understand my words. All great literature comes from this hopeful belief that all people are the same deep down. Thank you for listening to me.

(D) When a writer shuts himself up in a room for years in order to create a world from his secret wounds, he is putting great faith in humanity.

I believe this prize is proof that people all around the world can truly understand each other. Hopefully, it will play a role in improving the human condition.