Week 1 Year 2 - Thursday, October 11th 2012
"My Name is Red" By Orhan Pamuk
The very same person who forced him out of town some 12 years earlier, uncle Effendi, will bring Nero back in the obscure Istanbul of the late 1500s. A brutal murder has occurred and the suspicion it may be related to the project commissioned by the reigning Sultan to uncle Effendi, grows by the hour. The shroud of mystery that surrounds the artwork and the secrecy under which it is being kept may not be undermined, so much so that even the chosen miniaturists for the occasion, the best four in town, now down to three, will never have access to the complete artwork at any time. Though the issue doesn’t seem to bother them much, busy as they are in their own world, following ideals, shapes, colors but also love and eros. Nero’s investigations will take us in an exclusive environment which we’ll be allowed to go through very furtively. Just like a timeless dimension where the reigning silence is almost palpable. And as we follow Nero through the dark and treacherous alleys of a city reduced to poverty, his investigation intertwines with an old passion of his, which will be source of great torment and burning desire. It’s the one forbidden passion which betrayed him once years back. This love is now being offered to him, no longer with the innocent audacity of the past, but as a reward. He will have to identify the murderer.
I would like to able to call it a "compelling" novel. It has all the right ingredients: murder, mystery, suspense, transgression, and passion. Somewhat reminiscent of the style used by Coelho in "The Winner Stands Alone" as the story evolves through the direct testimony of each character, as if they were monologues, theatrical acts.
But "My Name is Red" is not just a novel. Actually it has so many interpretations and distractions of all kinds that it is quite hard to proceed undeterred and remain focused on the main plot. It continuously solicits the imaginary by throwing at us concepts, descriptions of such depth and beauty that readers are compelled to take time to appreciate that moment and visualize those shapes that are being described to the last detail and dressed up in their own essence. Historical and religious references, different cultures and styles compared but in particular, art and aesthetics. And love, love for all that is, sentient or non-sentient, love for the sake of love itself, love for beauty. Great energy which is being continuously mitigated so as to become explosive, because discretion is king, Allah forbid! Such refined depictions executed with unspeakable accuracy. As only an enormous drawing, rich in details, nuances and extensions enclosed in a grain of rice can be. And it is not a metaphor. Sensations, emotions, human weaknesses and virtues, told with such ease and simplicity as to render them definitely unsettling. Sometimes it truly leaves us breathless. This novel plunges and holds us in a dimension that lives to express the most beautiful representation of what surrounds us, according to the standards dictated by a system that regards the art of drawing a satanic activity. The book becomes a living witness of all this, a monument to aesthetics, love and transgression that the author manages to ennoble because it is lived with humility. It is strenuously seducing all the way through. Worthy of note are Pamuk’s abilities who expresses a highly sophisticated intellect, able to juggle with his reader’s psyche.
by lalitwist
Note 1 - about SUB ref. Monday, December the 5th 2011 "About a Druid and his mushrooms"
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