Orhan Pamuks My Name is Red- A Critical Review

My Name is Red is one of Pamuks seminal works. The conflict and conspiracy related to art reflects the east-west clash that has become a significant part of the Turkish quest for a distinct identity. In setting the novel in medieval Turkey, not only has Pamuk brought to light the roots of this clash but also raised important questions regarding the Turkish as well as Muslim Identity. My Name Is Red is a mystery novel set in medieval Istanbul. The main plot line of the novel revolves around the murder of a master gilder Elegant who had been working on the illumination of a controversial manuscript ordered by the Sultan. The Sultan had commissioned Enishte Effendi to supervise the illumination of a book that celebrates his achievements and life. Enishte had in turn commissioned four of his brilliant miniaturists nicknamed Olive, Butterfly, Stork and Elegant, to work separately on the manuscript in their homes rather than the Sultans workshop supervised by Master Osman, for secrecy. Enishtes nephew Black, who had professed his love for Enishtes daughter Shekure in his childhood and was banished from the household twelve years ago, is summoned back to help find the murderer. Enishte is sure that the murderer is one of the three other miniaturists. As Black returns, his affair with Shekure starts anew, whose husband had gone to War four years ago and didnt return. While the investigation is still going Eniste is also murdered but his death is hidden by Black and Shekure who marry before announcing that Enishte had died. Black, meanwhile also informs the Sultan that Enishte had been murdered by the same man who had killed Elegant. The Sultan orders Black and Master Osman to discover the murderer. Master Osman asks to be allowed in the Sultans collection so that he may find a clue about the murderer in the old manuscripts. Although, they do find a clue, Master Osman had become indifferent to the murder by this time, he feasts his eyes on the works of Behzad, a legendary Persian painter and then blinds himself with the same needle with which Behzad had blinded himself years ago. Black and the other miniaturists then find out the murderer has been Olive. He succeeds in wounding Black and escapes but is killed by Hassan, Shekures brother in law. The story is told through multiple narrations including inanimate objects like a coin, a tree etc. which gives the story a multiple perspective outlook. Moreover, the central concern of the novel is not the murder but the art conflict in the novel. The question of following the Western traditions or not. Elegant had been killed by Olive because he had threatened to expose

the blasphemous nature of the manuscript and the whole story revolves around this conflict, of art and style in face of religious and social norms. In representing multiple perspectives on Islamic art Pamuk has also traced the history of the evolution of Islamic consciousness. The novel also tells us that Islam as a religion relies largely on it believers for interpretation which means that there is freedom but also responsibility attached to it.