Meta-Media, Aesthetics and Critique: Pamuk’s Snow Anonymous College

In Orhan Pamuk’s masterful 2004 novel Snow, one major theme is that of aesthetic creation or production. This focus on process pervades the book, which itself is an aesthetic object. On a broader level, however, it complicates the aesthetic nature of fiction. What does it mean for an aesthetic object novel to engage with large questions of religion or politics? By dint of its engagement with religion and politics through its aesthetic format, Snow manages to engage in strident critique of politics – as well as to point out the staged, performative nature of politics.

In the passage in which Sunay becomes a dictator, the format of the book and the role of performance becomes a critique of politics and media. “…it was reassuring to see Sunay on screen every other moment, and in one shot, apparently very recent, he had an air of such ravaged determination to appear every inch the dictator, whether from Africa, the Middle East, or the Soviet Bloc.” (Pamuk 366). In this passage, it is apparent that the media, the masses, and politics work together in interesting ways. The “ravaged determination” that Sunay performs is sufficient to make him “appear” as a dictator, and interestingly, where he is from is seen as not mattering. Simply...