Creator and Creation

            Orhan Pamuk’s, My Name is Red allows for multiple points of view as each chapter is narrated by a different character in the novel. The title of each chapter introduce which character will be narrating, and readers are not limited to typical human characters; the chapters entitled  “I am a Dog” and “I am a Tree” are appropriately narrated by a dog and a tree. This use of multiple narrators allows readers to access, first hand, each character’s thoughts on a reoccurring subject throughout the novel: what is the relationship between the artist and their creation (i.e. their work of art)? And, because some chapters are not narrated by the artist, but by the subject we also must ask, what is the relationship between the subject of the work of art and the work of art itself?

             Through parables the chapter entitled, “I am Called Butterfly” addresses how the young master Butterfly’s contemporaries seem to feel about their relationship between themselves and their works of art. The first parable suggests that an artist’s own style—or “touch of his own genius” (63)—is nothing more than an imperfection which, in the parable, led to the untimely death of a young woman. Similarly, the second parable ends unfortunately with an illustrator son killing his father over his father’s beautiful wife. The parable warns that by signing an illustration the artist is “unjustly taking credit for the techniques and styles of the old masters, which he has imitated” and admitting that ‘“My paintings bear my imperfections’” (63). Thus, the suggestion here seems to be that the relationship between the artist and their work is merely an act of recreation, without imposing any alterations on the piece and without signing a work to render it one’s own; by not adding their own style or signature the creation essentially becomes detached from the artist, allowing, perhaps, for the creation itself to be appreciated rather than the creator.

            The chapters “I am a Tree” and “I, Shekure” allow readers to access the thoughts of the subject of a piece of art—a perspective readers usually are cutoff from. The tree explains that it has been “hastily sketched onto nonsized, rough paper” and somewhat takes pride in the thought of pagans and infidels prostrating themselves before it (47). The tree also explains the difference between the realistic style of Frank painters and the manner in which the tree has been painted; the tree is thankful that it is not depicted in such a realistic manner that if one were to look at the painting they would be able to find that exact tree in a forest. The tree is happy to be the subject of the work of art so long as it is unrecognizable, much like the notion that the artist creating the work of art should be unrecognizable when one views their work. The tree concludes, “I don’t want to be a tree, I want to be its meaning” (51). By rendering the tree ambiguous, the artist is allowing the meaning of the tree to be ambiguous, and thus perhaps appealing to multiple viewers.

            Shekure explains that she too longs to be the subject of a work of art: “Perhaps one day someone from a distant land will listen to this story of mine. Isn’t this what lies behind the desire to be inscribed in the pages of a book” (43). Unlike the tree, however, Shekure desires a certain amount of autonomy; she does not want to be denied of her subjectivity (though she desires to be the subject of an illustration), but wishes to engage in a dialogue between herself and whoever is observing her. She too longs to keep “one eye on the life within the book and one eye on the life outside…” (43). Shekure’s position on the relationship between the subject and the work itself is interesting because she (as a potential subject) seeks more than objectification (the denial of autonomy and her own feelings and experiences), unlike the tree; rather, Shekure views the subject of a work as a being itself, with its own desires and experiences to be recognized by the one observing.

            Thanks to these multiple narrations readers are able to enter into a dialogue with the text about the relationship between an artist and their work of art, and about the relationship between the subject of the work and the work itself. As the novel progresses we are able to deliberate on, and perhaps challenge, how our culture understands the role of the artist and their work of art, or the creator and its creation.