My Name Is Red Analysis

The book My Name is Red, published by Turkish writer Orham Pamuk in 1998 and translated into English in 2001, presents a story set in Istanbul during the reign of Sultan Murat III in the 16th century. Covering a timeframe of about nine days, two main events set the story forward: the murder of the renowned illuminator Elegant and the return to Istanbul of Black after being in exile for 12 years. Instead of telling the story from one single point of view, the plot is narrated by multiple people who are identified in the title of each chapter. Pamuk also examines the cultural tension between the East and the West by centering it on two different theories of art. On one side is the Western style of portraiture and on the other the Eastern miniature tradition. As the characters in My Name is Red show a deep sense of struggle between keeping a lifestyle dictated by the Koran and immersing

Unlike the common perception of Western art as a medium in which the original self can be represented with exactitude, Pamuk proposes that the representation on one’s identity will not be possible unless it is depicted as another. In this way, he undermines the pure self of the mirror image. Even though the story is narrated by different characters, the author does an excellent job at resembling the essence behind miniature art in the writing. The struggle of the Eastern illustrators is centered at the desire of portraying facial features that can identify the individuality of the one being depicted, which is banned by the Eastern Islamic culture. As the artists become engaged in the secret project of the Sultan, which includes a portrait of him, Enishte and illustrators become threatened by the