The structure of “My Name Is Red” by Orhan Pamuk is ver interesting in that, with each chapter change, the narrator also transitions with it. Each chapter is relatively short, lending a hand to the fast pace of the novel. Furthermore, this frequent change in perspective presents the story in a fragmented way. They are like pieces of a puzzle that have to be added together in order to fully understand all sides of what is happening. In a sense, this separated narrative is almost like the making of an illuminated manuscript. There is a general, overarching idea. But each separate part has to be crafted with fine detail before the full picture can be seen; the letterings, the color, the images and the gold leaf all come before the final product. Each separate portion of the manuscript gives the viewer (or in this case, the reader) a glimpse into what the finished product will look like. It builds off of each piece.
Not only does this fragmented narrative style make reading the novel very fast-paced, it allows the reader to analyze multiple perspective. Other less typical narratives are used as well, such as a dead person and the color red. However, these lend a hand in helping shape the novel, as well as further intertwining all the separate narratives. But, these stories are not the only thing that this split narrative joins; various themes throughout the story are brought together through this literary usage.
Will, I really like your insight into how the each chapter is apart of a manuscript page. In class we discussed how each chapter is one page that makes a whole book but your idea takes down to the next level. A page is not complete with the text, or the gold leaf, or the illustration, and this novel is not complete without every chapter. The different perspectives of the stories are also similar to a manuscript in the way that a different person would do each part of the page. A manuscript needs many authors to be complete, just like this story needs many storytellers to solve the mystery.