Title: My Name Is Red
Author: Orhan Pamuk
Original language: Turkish
Translation(s): 60 languages
Context: My Name Is Red (2001) is a translated novel by one of the finest contemporary Turkish writer, Orhan Pamuk. The novel is about miniaturists in the Ottoman Empire of 1591.
Synopsis: My Name Is Red is an enchanting and deceiving love story, a deviously fiendish mystery and extraordinary seminar on the power of art. The story starts with two Europeans, both accomplished miniaturists strolling through a meadow. Both the inner truth and individualism of the depicted object is rendered by their work originating from their artist minds.
The transporting story is set in Istanbul during the sixteenth century amid the religious dominion and grandeur. A cadre of some of the most well known artists in the land was commissioned to create an outstanding book to celebrate the magnificence of his monarchy. The artist had to use the European style to illuminate their art work. However in Islam figurative art is considered an affront and hence the proposition made by the Sultan seemed very dangerous. Hence the rich rulers should not be aware about the complete nature or scope of this artwork project. A panic situation develops on the disappearance of one of the miniaturists. It is the half completed illuminations only that can provide the only clue to the crime or the mystery. My Name Is Red is a part philosophical and part fantasy novel presenting a variegated journey to the convergence of power, sex, love, religion and art.
Other works by the Author:
Novels
1991 – The White Castle
2006 – The Black Book
1997 – The New Life
2004 – Snow
2009 – The Museum of Innocence
2012 – Silent House
2015 – A Strangeness in My Mind
2017 – The Red Haired Woman
Non-fiction
English
2005 – Istanbul: Memories and the City
My Father’s Suitcase
2007 – Other Colors: Essays and a Story
The Innocence of Objects
2010 – The Naïve and Sentimental Novelist
2019 – Balkon