My Name is Red

The coffeehouse storyteller is dressed as a woman, which has provided him with a greater understanding of sexuality. He advises his listeners to lust after young boys rather than women; since European men frequently view women’s nude bodies through their art, they are continually aroused and unable to succeed in battle.

Fascinated by women’s clothing as a child, the storyteller put on his mother’s underclothes and dresses when alone. From this experience he learned what it is like to be a woman and that women are not evil. In women’s clothing, the storyteller felt beautiful and could imagine a man falling for him. These thoughts turned him on, which upset him.

Singing a song despite the presence of the conversative faction led by Erzurumi, the storyteller relates the story of a man who lusted after a married woman. Melancholy and drunk, the man let his entire neighborhood know of his feelings. As his neighbors believed the man was a harbinger of bad fortune, the man and his wife moved away but were never again happy. The storyteller expresses his appreciation for this story but is silenced by “strangers bursting through the door” of the coffeehouse (356).