My Name is Red

Although Pamuk’s work is primarily a realist historical novel, it draws on several other fiction forms. Previous analysis has discussed the author’s use of the parable; here, we also see Pamuk borrowing some of the conventions of folklore or fairy tales. The recurrence of the number three within the murder investigation is one such genre overlap. Just as there are three remaining miniaturists, so too are there three questions to ask them about their work. Each replies to Black’s question with three neatly linked stories and supplies one of three characterizations of art after finishing the horse drawing contest. Finally, Master Osman and Black are given three days to discover the identity of Enishte’s murderer. The number three is important as sunnah acts, or Islamic traditions and moral practices, are supposed to be performed in threes. Therefore, the continual use of three in this novel suggests that the characters are attempting to follow traditional Muslim practices as modeled by Mohammad. At the same time, this repetition of three in Black’s quest echoes the structure of Middle Eastern folktales: For example, in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, the villains attempt three times to locate the man who has access to their treasure cave. In the novel, the parables’ undefined temporal and geographical setting adds to this fairytale atmosphere, and the use of multiple genres adds to Pamuk’s interest in Nested Narrative Storytelling in the Islamic World.

During their perusal of the secret book, Black and Master Osman offer opposing views on the value of artwork and the style that should be used by Muslims, continuing the novel’s discussion of Early Modern Islamic Debates about Art. Master Osman represents the conservative viewpoint as he is appalled that the illustrations for Enishte’s book are complete while the text remains unwritten—this makes them not instructional illustrations meant to elucidate the text, but instead representational art that exists for its own sake. For him, such work is a violation of Islamic religious values. Osman also believes that individual style is contrary to divine law, so his assessment of the works of Butterfly, Olive, and Stork critiques not only their abilities but also their characters and personal style. This resistance to stylistic differences in his miniaturists’ work primes Osman to diligently research the drawings’ individuality to identify the killer. Black’s assessment of the miniaturists’ artwork is more practical. After looking at the pictures of the horses left with Elegant’s corpse, Black carefully studies illustrations of horses, seeking out unique nostrils.

The contest devised for the three miniaturists is counterproductive. The original pictures of the horses with odd nostrils were drawn using a real horse as a reference, while the contest merely asks the artists to quickly draw the best horse they can from memory. Each of the artists offers a statement about their art after finishing the drawing. Olive reflects that when he draws, he becomes that subject, meaning that he views himself as one with the subject of his art, which thus does not reflect the painterly eye but becomes a self-portrait. Butterfly, in turn, notes that he becomes “a great master of old drawing that horse” (277),, suggesting that he, through his training, is drawing on tradition and training rather than relying on his intimacy with the subject matter; his approach is to remove himself from the process of painting. In contrast, Stork states that he is only himself, which explains why he struggles to draw a horse that follows the Eastern rather than Western tradition—his art embraces his individuality and style as an artist.

The murderer’s thoughts following the contest reveal that he has adopted European artistic techniques and justify his rejection of traditional Eastern methods. The killer offers a breakdown of his thinking process, attempting to unify Eastern and Western thinking about art. Noting that art represents what is seen in the mind, he suggests that the mind only imagines what it sees in the world. Therefore, the act of seeing allows the individual to discover what the mind knows already. Using this circular logic, the murderer concludes by creating a self-portrait. However, while he can imagine himself as a European painter, the murderer fails to create a realistic likeness of himself. The final chapter of this section is told from the perspective of Satan, who enters into the debate on European painting techniques by stating his belief that Western styles are not idolatrous. Yet, the reliability of Satan is questionable—a point brought up by Satan himself—especially when considering that the murderer continually blames the devil for his killings.