In Black’s adventure to get Shekure a divorce, he describes on page 195 his actions as he imagines they would be illustrated. I found this interesting because he mentions that such stories are usually written as narrative poems because their content wasn’t something worthy of being illustrated. Black is writing Enishte’s book for him, which is something that was done in secret because of its content. Black isn’t a master illustrator and was hired to be the storyteller, but he still thinks like the illuminators in terms of images. His story is told in four images. The first image is described as a scene on the water with red and blue pigments, depicting an image of joy in the clouds and sea for potential of Shekure’s divorce and marriage to Black, but underlying fear of failure portrayed by darkness. The second image is described to contain irony and playful tricks, depicting the acceptance of a bribe. His description discusses the duty of the illuminator to make the image clear to those who haven’t read the story that the bribe was accepted and the divorce is in progress, showing the importance of images as a device to tell a story. The third image depicts Imam Effendi and his brother testifying in court for the divorce, while the fourth would depict the divorce being finished and Black’s happiness. However, Black states that the image wouldn’t be able to express the feelings of happiness he had at the time. Illustrations are extremely important to the illuminators and Enishte, and yet because Black is in a moment of such joy he seems to see illuminations as less powerful than they are generally portrayed in the book. I also found this interesting because it reminded me of the three stories Olive, Stork, and Butterfly told, and how they focused on the importance of illuminations and the negative effects of disrespecting the art.
Your comment about how Black thinks with images more so than with words reminds me of one of Black’s reflections: “Besides, [Enishte’s illustrations] had vexed me plenty because I couldn’t write an appropriate story to accompany them . . . ” (220). This quote highlights the fact that the importance of illuminations lies in both image and text.
It is interesting how Black thinks that the images he envisions can’t capture his joyful emotions. I feel like in the Eastern tradition, illustrations are meant to incite strong feelings of spirituality and connection with Allah. However, I’m not sure if the same goes for the Western tradition. There is an adherence to realism in the Western, which is what Black’s four images seem to be — a representation of (potential) reality. Does a more realistic representation take away from inducing a powerful emotional response? Were the Book of Hours meant to create these feelings like traditional Turkish illuminated manuscripts were? I wonder if an interweaving of flowing abstractions (i.e. the Eastern tradition) is more likely to set off more emotions, because instead of the artist illustrating an something realistically in an attempt to reproduce emotional responses, s/he merely alludes to them and ultimately leaves the viewer to conjure up these feelings her/himself. Can realistic representation match the real thing, and if not, can abstract representation? I ask this while keeping in mind that neither tradition, as Pamuk implies, is better than the other.