Language of the Self Through Art and Representation: “My Name is Red”

In his My Name is Red, Pamuk's clever use of metafiction shows that the novel responds to problems of plurality, inclusivity, and exclusivism concerning the theoretical debates on belonging, identity, and secularism in the nation-state. In the present study, we first show that the novel's statement is expressed via the inherent plurality of the narrative, achieved through constantly shifting perceptions and the use of several unexpected narrators in the novel. Second, we find such a pluralist use of metafiction quite significant, because the novel not only gives voice to the underrepresented, but also because Pamuk's metafiction offers an alternative and more plural, inclusive and democratic understanding of self-reflexivity. Metafiction in Pamuk's sense can make meaningful contributions to theory and its capacity to better understand modern, cosmopolitan and multicultural nations