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. Pamuk would later
receive the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature.
The main characters in the novel are miniaturists in the Ottoman Empire,
one of whom is murdered in the first chapter. From this point, Pamuk —
in a postmodern style reminiscent of Jorge Luis Borges — plays with the
reader and with literary conventions. The novel incorporates metafiction
in such ways as making frequent reference to the reader and to the
narrators' awareness that they are characters in a book.
Each chapter of the novel has a different narrator, and usually there
are thematic and chronological connections between chapters. In
addition, unexpected voices are used, such as the corpse of the
murdered, a coin, Satan, two dervishes, and the color red. Each of these
"unusual" narrators is contributed by specific characters, who detail
the philosophical system of 16th century Istanbul. The novel blends
mystery, romance, and philosophical puzzles, illustrating the reign of
Ottoman Sultan Murat III during nine snowy winter days in 1591.