My Name Is Red

Orhan Pamuk

Dec 2006 · Sold by Vintage

About this ebook

The Nobel Prize winner and one of today's most prominent contemporary Turkish writers delivers a novel that is a fiendishly devious mystery, a beguiling love story, a brilliant symposium on the power of art, and a “modern classic … rich and essential” (Los Angeles Times Book Review)—set amid the splendor and religious intrigue of sixteenth-century Istanbul.

The Sultan has commissioned a cadre of the most acclaimed artists in the land to create a great book celebrating the glories of his realm. Their task: to illuminate the work in the European style. But because figurative art can be deemed an affront to Islam, this commission is a dangerous proposition indeed. The ruling elite therefore mustn’t know the full scope or nature of the project, and panic erupts when one of the chosen miniaturists disappears. The only clue to the mystery—or crime?—lies in the half-finished illuminations themselves. Part fantasy and part philosophical puzzle, My Name is Red is a kaleidoscopic journey to the intersection of art, religion, love, sex and power.

Translated from the Turkish by Erda M Göknar

Ratings and reviews

Orhan Pamuk of Turkey has been nominated for the prestigious Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1992 and 2006. I would like to read this book to know about the lives of the miniaturists who were considered the most likely to burn in hell by Islamic fundamentalists.

Superlative narration and conception of narrative style. Well thought out plot and interesting characters. Velijan's (Olive's) intriguing guise has been textured with the travails of human psyche. A master piece indeed.

It's true, Pamuk didn't wrote this book for easy mind people, but for those wo dare to stick to the beauty. It gravities around picture and other arts and I laught a lot. Some chapters are linked to another but you'll find the right path if you seek the true.

About the author

ORHAN PAMUK is the author of seven novels and the recipient of major Turkish and international literary awards. He is one of Europe's most prominent novelists, and his work has been translated into twenty-six languages. He lives in Istanbul.