I suppose that to see everything as connected with everything else is the addiction of our time.
-- Faruk Darvinoğlu (Preface)

Importance: The author of the preface, Faruk Darvinoğlu, claims this as the reason for publishing the 17th-century manuscript that he has discovered, revised, and translated. It reflects Pamuk's arabesque style of linking his story with historical events, narrative techniques, and particular works of world literature. For example, he links the premature death of Faruk's young sister to the death of Hoja's sister as well the preface to Don Quixote to Faruk's preface.

“The resemblance between myself and the man who entered the room was incredible! It was me there . . . for that first instant this was what I thought. It was as if someone wanted to play a trick on me and had brought me in again by a door directly opposite the one I had first come through.
-- Narrator (chapter 2)

Importance: The narrator experiences the uncanny...