My Name is Red is a captivating novel by Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, set in late-16th-century Istanbul, during the peak of the Ottoman Empire. The novel combines multiple murder mysteries, a deadly love story, and a meditation on the nature and purpose of art, especially the art of miniature painting. Unique to Orhan’s techniques, the novel is narrated by multiple voices ranging from human to non-human including a tree in a photo frame or a gold coin, some alive, some dead, creating a rich and complex tapestry of perspectives and styles. It is an essential read to experience a landscape full of original lived experiences that no longer exist in the tightly mechanisms of modern societies. The central theme of the novel explores the tension between the traditional Islamic view of art and its widespread acceptance and performance, emphasizing the divine vision rooted in the imitation of the traditional connoisseurs of the East. On the other hand, it contrasts with the emerging “Venetain” style of art and subsequent crass analogies, which value realism, individuality, and innovation more than the noble spiritual exploration found in all traditional art. Introducing perspective in seeing Art is one of the main controversies. The novel also examines the role of art in expressing and shaping one’s identity, as well as the power of art to inspire, challenge, and transform lives that how a certain color and style can influence human acts in real life, from lovemaking to murder.
The novel begins with the murder of Elegant Effendi, one of the master miniaturists who was working on a secret book commissioned by the Sultan Murat. The book was meant to celebrate the glory and power of the powerful Ottoman Empire, but it also contained illustrations in the European style, which was considered blasphemous by some given the realistic picturization of human faces and other objects, which came in direct contrast with the traditional art of representation of truth. Thus, the Sultan orders the chief of the royal workshop, Master Osman, to find the killer, or else all the miniaturists will be tortured and executed. Meanwhile, a former miniaturist codenamed as Black(Kara), who had left Istanbul 12 years ago, returns to the city at the request of his uncle Enishte, who was the writer with whom the Sultan contracted out the preparation of the secret book. Enishte wants Black to help him finish the book, but also to investigate the murder. Black agrees, partly because he is still in love with his cousin, Shekure, Enishte’s daughter, who is married to a soldier who has been missing for four years. Shekure, who has two young sons, is torn between her loyalty to her missing husband and her attraction to Black. She also has to deal with the threats of her brother-in-law, Hasan, who wants to marry her by force. At the behest of his uncle, Black begins his investigation and visits the three other miniaturists who were working on the book with Elegant: Butterfly, Stork, and Olive. Each of them tells Black a different story about their art, their motives, and their alibis. The dialogues between them reveal an altogether different and intricate world of these miniature and illumination arts, which very much influences the deep philosophy and meaning of life. Each person is set to describe the motivation behind their persuasion of the profession, which is none other than their individual journey in the ultimate and the beauty that is God Himself. The many stories of master miniaturists going blind at the end of their life long careers is thus regarded less as an infirmity than as a consecration; an achievement wherefrom they receive their ideal inspirations and true nature of style. Viewing miniatures or “perfected art” is a way of knowing eternal beauty. From Herat to Isphan to Istanbul, the blindness of artists is cherished as God’s favour upon the chosen masters to have truer vision of the divine art and style.
While in the town, Black also encounters Esther, a Jewish clothier who acts as a messenger and a matchmaker between Black and Shekure. Her character exposes the darker side of society, showing how our deeply guarded private lives are always under surveillance by the people around us. As Black tries to solve the mystery and win Shekure’s heart, he meets various obstacles and dangers, such as the religious fanatics who oppose the book, the storyteller who reveals the secrets of the book to the public, and the murderer who is still at large.
The novel is a repository of fascinating details and insights about Ottoman culture, history, and art, with the roots going from the Mediterranean Sea to the plains of Transoxiana. Pamuk skillfully blends historical facts with fictional elements, creating a lively and authentic portrait of Istanbul and its people. He makes a photo frame of a tree to speak about its origins. A gold coin is given a tongue to reveal the stories of the hands that hold it in its journey through the inner pockets of human society. A dog is made to speak his status in the great divine scheme when a religious fanatic attempts to degrade him. Even the dead talk about the journey after their rendezvous with death. A reader is taken unawares when he explores the mind behind these plots and stories. Orhan’s ability to poke at behind-the-scene realities is mind-blowing.
The novel also raises profound questions about the philosophy, meaning, and value of art, the relationship between art and religion, the conflict between tradition and modernity, and the role of art in shaping one’s identity and destiny. Like Orhan’s other great fictional works, My Name is Red is counted among the best novels of the contemporary era. This is a masterpiece of exploration and storytelling, with a suspenseful plot and mystery-after-mystery continuity, a vivid cast of characters, and a dazzling array of themes and motifs. My Name is Red is a novel that celebrates the traditional beauty and power of art while casting that beauty on the pages and books. Doesn’t overlook its dangers and limitations either. It is a novel that invites us to cherish the sweetness of a rich story where the characters illustrate historical books that still exist like Shahnama Firdousi, Gulistan, Book of Equines, Khusrew Shirin etc. To imagine the era that is already gone by. Each paragraph delights the modern reader, bangs his short-term crass discourses, and pushes him into a world of wonder and mystery.
Post-Script:
Fiction, which we generally mistake for consolation, is a ruthless genre that operates upon the womb of society to offer us an unqualified peek into mysteries, truths and untruths, hidden agendas, underbellies, and philosophical puzzles working behind the scenes. Fiction has a free pass to take us boldly into unfamiliar seas where history, geography, or any other subject fears treading. And, reading Orhan carries a loaded “Huzun” apart from other depths. He quietly lays siege around a reader and wants him imagine a universe beyond his intellectual limitations. His My Name is Red is replete with these loaded questions we hardly consider. It highlights the richness of color in life, but dovetails it with ultimate impermanence. It is a divine mystery which lives on behind the affairs of this earthly life. Orhan, when he makes a dead speak, writes: “Before my birth, there was infinite time, and after my death, inexhaustible time. I never thought of it before. I’d been living luminously between two eternities of darkness.” Or “the entire world was like a palace with countless rooms whose doors opened into one another. We were able to pass from one room to the next only by exercising our memories and imaginations, but most of us, in our laziness, rarely exercised these capacities and forever remained in the same room.” Our ordinary affairs and busy schedules no longer let us contemplate such higher intellection and beauty? We worship ideas that help us amass our riches.
Lastly, the novel has a deep suspense about the color red(Kirmizi). From the start, we are told varied stories involving the meaning and representation of colors, including red. We are led to different gory stories involving murders, wars, and the destruction of cities. Likewise, secret inclinations and ‘errotic’ plots make us suppose the possible connotations, but that alone can’t be taken as the answer to what red is all about. The reader is tasked with decoding this mysterious novel and forming a conclusion about the significance of the color red in My Name is Red.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
M Yousuf Najar hailing from Budgam, can be reached at yousufnajar14@gmail.com
