My Name Is Red
LC Class | PL248.P34 B46 1998 |
My Name Is Red (Turkish: Benim Adım Kırmızı) is a 1998 Turkish novel by writer Orhan Pamuk translated into English by Erdağ Göknar in 2001. The novel, concerning miniaturists in the Ottoman Empire of 1591, established Pamuk's international reputation and contributed to his reception of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006.
The book has been translated into more than 60 languages since publication.
In recognition of its status in Pamuk's oeuvre, the novel was re-published in Erdağ Göknar's translation as part of the Everyman's Library Contemporary Classics series in 2010. BBC Radio 4 broadcast an adaptation of the novel in 2008.
Outline
Several of the major characters in the novel belong to the same workshop of
Subsequent chapters are narrated by different characters - - including four living members of the Sultan's workshop, a man named Black who has just returned to his uncle's home in Istanbul after 12 years of travel and who is the first living character to narrate the novel - -, by several drawings (the archetype of a horse, a dog, a counterfeit gold coin,
Enishte Effendi, the maternal uncle of the main character (Black), is reading the Book of the Soul by
For some of the miniaturists, in particular the head of the Sultan's workshop Master Osman, viewing miniatures or "perfected art" is less a way of seeing than a way of knowing the eternal. The many stories of master painters going blind at the end of their careers is thus presented less as an infirmity than as a consecration.[3]: 124
Like the drawings that narrate their stories, Shekure -- Black's widowed cousin and romantic interest -- is a
Characters
- Elegant Effendi, murdered miniaturist who speaks from the afterlife to the reader in the opening chapter.
- Kara (Black), miniaturist and binder. Recently returned from 12 years away in Persia. Nephew of Enishte ("Uncle").
- Enishte Effendi, maternal uncle of Black, who is in charge of the creation of a secret book for the Sultan in the style of the Venetian painters.
- Shekure, Enishte's beautiful daughter with whom Black is in love; Shekure (related to English 'sugar' refers to Shirin, meaning 'sweet', also the name of Pamuk's mother).
- Shevket, Shekure's older son (also the name of Orhan Pamuk's older brother).
- Orhan, Shekure's younger son (also Pamuk's first name).
- Hasan, the younger brother of Shekure's husband.
- Hayriye, slave girl in Enishte's household, Enishte's concubine.
- Master Osman, head of the Sultan's workshop of miniaturists. This character is based on Nakkaş Osman.
- Butterfly, one of three miniaturists suspected for the murders.
- Stork, one of three suspect miniaturists.
- Olive, one of three suspect miniaturists. This character is based on Veli Can[4]
- Esther, a Jewish peddler, a matchmaker, carries lovers' letters.
- Nusret Hoja, a Conservative Muslim leader who may be based on an historical figure. Opposes coffee and coffeehouses, bawdy stories, and figurative paintings.
Books within the book
A number of books illustrated by famous miniaturists are referenced by the characters in My Name is Red: Several of the specific manuscripts described (most prominently the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, more commonly known in the west as the Houghton shahnama) are real and survive in whole or part.
- Book of the Soul by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya
- Surname-i Hümayun – Book of Imperial Festivities, by Nakkaş Osman (miniatures) and Seyyid Lokman Çelebi, in the story still under completion
- Firdawsi, is the national epic of the Persian-speaking world.
- Chronicle of Sultan Selim
- The Convergence of the Stars, ordered by Sam Mirza Safavi, son of Shah Ismail
- Persian Nizami(English: Khosru and Shireen), this love story forms the central idea behind the love story in My Name is Red
- Book of Equines by the Bukharan scholar Fadlan (a drawing of a horse is the key to finding the murderer in My Name is Red)
- The Illustration of Horses, three volumes on how to draw horses: The Depiction of Horses, The Flow of Horses, and The Love of Horses by Jemalettin of Kazvin
- The Blindman's Horses, a critique on the prior three volumes, by Kemalettin Riza of Herat
- History of Tall Hasan, Khan of the Whitesheep by Jemalettin
- Sadi
- Book of Victories with the funeral ceremonies of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent
- Book of Skills
Reception
My Name Is Red received favourable reviews when published in English. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly admires the novel's "...jeweled prose and alluring digressions, nesting stories within stories" and concludes that Pamuk will gain many new readers with this "...accessible, charming and intellectually satisfying, narrative." A
In The New York Times, Richard Eder describes Pamuk's intense interest in East-West interactions and explains some of the metaphysical ideas that permeate the novel. He also comments that the novel is not just about ideas: "Eastern or Western, good or bad, ideas precipitate once they sink to human level, unleashing passions and violence. ‘Red’ is chockfull of sublimity and sin." Eder also praises the characterization of Shekure, which he regards as the finest in the book. She is "...elusive, changeable, enigmatic and immensely beguiling." Eder concludes: "They (readers) will . . . be lofted by the paradoxical lightness and gaiety of the writing, by the wonderfully winding talk perpetually about to turn a corner, and by the stubborn humanity in the characters’ maneuvers to survive. It is a humanity whose lies and silences emerge as endearing and oddly bracing individual truths".[5]
English translation
It won the International Dublin Literary Award in Dublin in 2003,[2] where Göknar accepted the award on behalf of Pamuk. As is customary with this award,[8] Göknar received a quarter share of the prize.[9]
A recent study examined the faithfulness of the novel's translations using quantitative methods.[10]
Release details
- 1998, Turkey, Iletisim Yayincilik (ISBN 975-470-711-1), Pub date ? ? 1998, hardback (First Turkish edition)
- 2001, USA, Alfred A Knopf (ISBN 978-0375406959), Pub date ? August 2001, hardback (First English edition)
- 2001, UK, Faber & Faber (ISBN 978-0571200474), Pub date 2 November 2001, paperback
- 2002, UK, Faber & Faber (ISBN 978-0571212248), Pub date 31 July 2002, paperback
- 2002, USA, Vintage Books (ISBN 978-0375706851), Pub date ? September 2002, paperback (Translated by Erdag Goknar)
- 2008, UK, Dramatised on BBC Radio 4 in 2 parts by Ayeesha Menon, directed by John Dryden, August 2008
References
- ^ "Orhan Pamuk Official Web Site".
- ^ a b "2003: Winner". Archived from the original on 2009-05-03.
- ^ S2CID 201767090.
- ^ Gisela Fock (2009). "Veli Can". Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart (in German).
- ^ Eder, Richard. "Heresies of the Paintbrush," The New York Times Book Review, Sept. 2, 2001.
- ^ Freely, Maureen. Review of My Name Is Red, in New Statesman, Vol. 130, No. 4552, Aug. 27, 2001, p. 41, and Eder, Richard. "Heresies of the Paintbrush," in The New York Times Book Review, Sept. 2, 2001.
- ^ "Vintage Catalog".
- ^ "Award FAQs". Archived from the original on 2006-11-01.
- ^ "Writer Pamuk lands Impac prize". BBC News. 19 May 2003. Retrieved 19 May 2003.
- . Türk Kütüphaneciliği, Vol. 32, No. 4, Dec. 13, 2018, p.251-286.
External links
- Orhan Pamuk discusses My Name is Red on the BBC World Book Club
- Murder in miniature: A sixteenth-century detective story explores the soul of Turkey: John Updike writes about My Name Is Red at The New Yorker
- Richard Eder's review at The New York Times
- Extensive excerpts at Book Excerptise
- Medieval Sourcebook – Khosru and Shireen
- Orhan Pamuk at Nobelprize.org