Abstract: For Orhan Pamuk, a self-proclaimed “visual writer,” looking over the city from his studio's windows is always both a magic button of his lifelong urge for writing and the starting point for all his stories. In his ninth novel, A Strangeness in My Mind, Pamuk bypasses his Westernized and affluent class identity, for the very first time, and adopts the perspective of an Istanbul street peddler in constructing an urban chronicle over half a century. Various windows in the city are portrayed as building elements throughout the novel, but under the constant gaze of the protagonist all his life, windows seem to have taken on multiple metaphorical connotations and become so essential to understanding urban experiences and perceptions of life. With a focus on the windows as three metaphors, such as a reflection on the past and present of Istanbul, a remedy for urban solitude, and an image of urban home, this article aims to reveal how the unique visibility of the city has turned Pamuk's urban writing into a huge success.

Key words: Pamuk, A Strangeness in My Mind, “window”, metaphor, urban writing