I think there are a lot of aspects of My Name is Red that can be considered a supplement to the commentary on the tension between East and West aside from what is provided by the narrative itself. Naturally, I have had several thoughts about ways in which the structure of the book is related to Eastern and Western influences on illumination. Among these thoughts is the relationship between perspective in illuminations and perspective in the novel. I brought this up in class last week and wanted to elaborate a bit on what I think is an interesting subtlety in the novel.
We discussed the up-and-down style of Eastern illuminations versus the left-and-right style of Western illuminations. The Western style focuses on shadows, perspective, and depth. The Eastern style, on the other hand, typically lacks shadows, reflections in water, and depth. Interestingly, perspective in My Name is Red plays a key role in how the story is told to the reader. I’m not sure that Pamuk intentionally chose to make the perspective of the story a commentary on a major difference between Eastern and Western illuminations, but I think it is subtly present.
The novel is written from the perspective of a diverse range of characters, each with different opinions, a different set of knowledge, and a different range of experiences. This certainly adds to the complexity of the plot. If we compare the amalgam of these views from many characters to be a work of art itself, we see a striking similarity to Western illumination. The way the story simultaneously integrates the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of many characters provides added layers of depth. That being said, the plot obviously contains a variety of Eastern elements. Hence, I believe the plot itself plays on the tension between East and West, narrating an Eastern story in a way that seems very Western.
