The Call for Cautious Readers

           From the beginning of My Name Is Red, we are presented with a world in which the people we encounter are very aware that they are characters in a novel. Elegant Effendi, the victim in “I Am a Corpse,” first presents the meta-fictional aspect of the novel, and sets the stage with the sentiment, “the staggering power of such a book arises from the impossibility of its being depicted” (6). While this is a novel centered on miniaturists illustrating a secret text, questions about literature are raised. This, along with the shifting narration style, may be one of the reasons that Pamuk was awarded the Nobel Prize; the novel functions as a call to demand more of oneself as a reader.

            One of the issues Pamuk raises is the reliability of the narrator. Through his shifting point of view, the reader gains different perspectives through multiple narrators. Because these people are largely aware that they are characters, the text interacts with the reader in a way that most novels won’t. We have to wonder which characters are trying to color themselves in a positive way, and which are more reliable. Shekure, for example, can’t be trusted because she often deals in lies, and even omits details “for fear that you’ll [the reader] dislike [her] father and [herself]” (40). Her story further demonstrates the power of narration, and its ability to appear true. The lies that Shekure generates turn into gossip, and when they get back to her, she’s admittedly “the first to believe the good news” (44), cautioning us, as readers, to avoid taking from a novel that which we want to hear, rather than the truth.

            The novel also seems to be questioning the New Criticism approach to understanding literature. Black is told by Nuri the Miniaturist that “the identity of the miniaturist is not important,” because the art should be understood and appreciated through its own beauty. The New Critics would agree because they don’t believe that readers need to consider the author or culture that produces a work; the text is its own world. While this idea has merit, it seems impossible that we should ignore the circumstances that create a work of literature, or art. However, Pamuk does not seem to dismiss New Criticism completely because the idea of miniaturists creating illustrations to go alongside a story presents its problems, too. The miniaturists’ drawings would no doubt be shaded with their own perspectives and opinions, and if the reader is getting those as well, the painting isn’t an extension, but something in its own right (26). Pamuk makes us aware that we need to be careful in letting personal experience influence interpretation.

            Overall, the metafiction in My Name Is Red seems to suggest the need for a wary and questioning reader as well as a balance between reading the world of the text and the world that shaped its production.