My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk
"My Name Is Red" by Orhan Pamuk is a historical novel set in late 16th century Istanbul, during the height of the Ottoman Empire. The story revolves around the character Black, a former miniaturist apprentice who returns to his hometown after a long absence. He learns that a fellow artist, Elegant Effendi, has been murdered, prompting Black to investigate the crime under pressure from the sultan. The novel explores themes of art, creativity, and the tension between traditional Islamic practices and emerging Western influences, as the sultan commissions a book to showcase his power and intellect to Europe.
As Black delves into the world of miniaturists, he finds himself navigating the complexities of artistic style, personal ambition, and the intricacies of love, particularly his feelings for Shekure, the widow of the murdered artist. The narrative includes elements of mystery and philosophical reflection, particularly through the character of Master Osman, who seeks to transcend the physical world to connect with divine creativity. The interplay between the cultural significance of art and the dangers of individual expression amid a backdrop of fundamentalism and societal change enriches the storyline. Ultimately, the novel raises questions about the intersection of faith and creativity, as well as the implications of cultural exchange between East and West.
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My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk
First published:Benim Adım Kırmızı, 1998 (English translation, 2001)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Historical and murder mystery
Time of plot: 1591
Locale: Istanbul
Principal characters
Elegant Effendi , a court miniaturistEnishte Effendi , a master court miniaturist and confidant of Sultan Murat IIIBlack , a miniaturist, bookmaker, and diplomatMaster Osman III , the master miniaturist of Murat’s courtButterfly , ,Olive , andStork , court miniaturists and murder suspectsShekure , the beautiful widowed daughter of Enishte Effendi, and Black’s love interest
The Story:
A dead man calls out from the bottom of a well, into which his battered body had been dumped. The souls of the dead can still interact with the living in the world of late sixteenth century Istanbul, the center of the Ottoman Empire.
A former miniaturist apprentice named Black returns to Istanbul after a twelve-year absence to visit his uncle Enishte Effendi, also his former teacher. Black learns that miniaturist Elegant Effendi has been missing and may have been harmed. He also learns that Enishte Effendi has been secretly commissioned by the sultan to illustrate a book in the European manner to extol the glories of the sultan and his reign. The plan is for this illustrated volume to be presented to Western diplomats to circulate through Europe as evidence of Sultan Murat III’s power, wealth, and intellect.
While Black and Enishte Effendi are discussing art in general as well as the sultan’s secret commission (an open secret at the sultan’s court), a messenger arrives with news that Elegant Effendi has in fact been murdered and that his corpse has been found at the bottom of a well. Murat is angry that one of his illustrators has been murdered. As a knowledgeable outsider, Black is charged with finding the murderer within three days, or he will suffer the consequences. Disturbing his mental equilibrium even further, Black catches a glimpse of Shekure, Enishte Effendi’s widowed daughter. Black has long been infatuated with Shekure and devises strategies to be alone with her so that he might declare his love, a passion about which Shekure is ambivalent.
Black interviews all the illustrators attached to the sultan’s court, men he had known as boys when they all apprenticed together. Black attempts to ascertain which camp each illustrator falls into—traditionalist or innovator. He needs to know the vehemence with which each illustrator holds opinions of individual artistic style as well as their opinions about Elegant Effendi’s talent. Master Osman III, Butterfly, Stork, and Olive are asked the same three questions on artistic style. Their responses do not provide conclusive evidence about the murderer’s identity. A partially completed illustration had been found on Elegant Effendi’s corpse. The murderer is likely the man who drew this illustration and then had given it to Elegant Effendi to draw a frame around it.
Each illustrator is commanded to quickly draw a picture of a horse, without putting conscious thought into the work. In this way, Black hopes to trick the murderer into revealing himself. Subtle differences among the pictures leads Black and the presumed-innocent Master Osman to the sultan’s palace, where they are granted extraordinary access to the treasury, including the sultan’s private collection of staggeringly precious and exotic illuminated books. Locked into the private vaults with the librarian, the two sleuths journey through the history of Islamic art and literature. Black’s thoughts turn increasingly toward Shekure, however, while Master Osman slips further and further into the mystical realm of communion with his artistic predecessors and their desire to see into the impenetrable darkness of Allah’s own creativity. Given the opportunity, Master Osman chooses to blind himself to see more clearly, as Allah sees, without the distraction of actual physical objects.
While Black and the now-blind Master Osman continue their search for clues, the murderer strikes again. Enishte Effendi is killed this time, and his studio is ransacked, in a desperate attempt to find the incriminating illustration. The murderer escapes undetected.
Shekure, meantime, has slipped away to meet with Black, whom she finally agrees to marry—more out of fear than love, however. The wedding is a hurried ceremony to protect Shekure from the machinations of her dead husband’s relatives. Shekure refuses to consummate her marriage to Black until the killer is found and arrested.
All who align themselves with those advocating the development of individual artistic styles remain in danger both from a murderer who has already killed twice and from the followers of a popular religious leader dead set against the rise of foreign influences in Ottoman society. Finally, the murderer is tricked into revealing himself when presented with the evidence against him. Naturally, he justifies his actions by arguing that art must capture the intensity of divine creativity. To allow artists such as Elegant Effendi to develop individual styles, he says, and to present illustrations of the physical world from any perspective other than that of the divine, is to desecrate both art and faith.
Bibliography
Anadolu-Okur, Nilgun, ed. Essays Interpreting the Writings of Novelist Orhan Pamuk. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2009. A scholarly critique of Pamuk’s work. Essays discuss his overarching themes that, despite being specific to Turkish history, remain deeply relevant to modern-day East-West relations.
Brahm, Gabriel Noah, Jr. “Reading City of Quartz in Ankara: Two Years of Thinking in Orhan Pamuk’s Middle East.” Rethinking History 11, no. 1 (March, 2007): 79-102. A discussion of so-called Occidentalist prejudices and the construction of a false Orientalist perspective that only reinforces Western prejudices against traditional Middle East culture and history.
De Bellaigue, Christopher. “There Is No East.” Harper’s Magazine 315 (September, 2007): 73-79. Reviews Pamuk’s themes and stylistic models in his later novels. Discusses how the theme of religious alienation has affected East-West relations.
Goknar, Erdag. “Orhan Pamuk and the ’Ottoman’ Theme.” World Literature Today, November/December, 2006, 34-38. Studies how Pamuk uses Ottoman identity in all of his novels and how this identity is perceived in a European context.