‘I’m Interested In Silences As Much As Stories’: Elif Shafak On Her New Gustave Flaubert Inspired Novel
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3 hours ago
The novelist talks forgotten women, Flaubert’s Egyptian muse, and the books that shaped her
Istanbul, opium, syphilis, a camel named Jamilah and an Egyptian belly-dancer. These are just some of the perspectives we hear from in Elif Shafak’s latest novel In One Brief Moment All Eternity. It may surprise you, therefore, to learn that this book is about 19th century French novelist Gustave Flaubert – or rather, more specifically, the women in his life.
Among the 30 female voices we hear from throughout Flaubert’s boyhood, youth and old age, there’s Emma Bovary – the protagonist of his best-known novel Madame Bovary – his mother, his sister, his niece, his nursemaid, and a servant. Some are real, but many are imagined: ordinary women are dreamt up for the plot, including a baker, a madwoman, a cleaner and an acrobat.
Referring to Emma as ‘the most scandalous female character in world literature’, the There Are Rivers In The Sky (2024) author explains how Flaubert’s creation earnt him street-cred as ‘a connoisseur of the female mind’. Not one to be content with old white men taking all the credit, she was inspired to ‘turn that premise upside down and let women tell his story.’
Like many of us, Elif’s first introduction to Flaubert was in reading Madame Bovary as a student. ‘And to be honest I didn’t like it much. Emma was quite spoiled, greedy and selfish. But I was intrigued by Flaubert and by what he had done.’
From here she read Salammbô and Sentimental Education. And though she wasn’t won over, she was intrigued. Years later, she discovered his letters. ‘He left hundreds of them, written to friends, lovers and companions, and they’re incredible: so moving, with immense honesty, complexity and vulnerability. With the emotional connection I gained from the letters, I went back and reread the novels, and this time it was a completely different experience.’
Though her new novel is told through the voices of the women, it is Flaubert sits at the core. ‘At the heart of the story is a lonely boy who everyone around him saw as a failure and a disappointment.’ Flaubert, who came from an esteemed family of doctors, was pressured into pursuing medicine, or at the very worst, law, despite his complete lack of interest or aptitude. ‘All he wanted to do was art,’ says Elif. ‘The book is dedicated to anyone who has ever felt misunderstood, unloved or treated as the other, and to anyone who feels lonely. Art is our companion, and books are our friends throughout our lives.’
These days, Flaubert’s most popular novel is heralded by most as his one and only great work. By contrast, Elif claims (and she can’t emphasise this enough) that he ‘changed the way we write fiction’: ‘Today we take it for granted, but until him novels weren’t written like this. He had a huge impact on James Joyce and Marcel Proust. Both English and French literature would have been very different without Gustave Flaubert.’
Whether you think Flaubert is an underappreciated great, or that Madame Bovary is overhyped, the subject matter seems strange none the less. Why Flaubert? Why his women? What does this book have to say? Elif refers to it as ‘a book about creativity in a time of crisis’ and ‘a book about turbulent times: war, civil war, brother killing brother, extreme polarisation, which is very relevant to our own times.’ Pursuing these themes in this form seems a feat that Elif is uniquely capable of. And one that can probably only be understood through the act of reading.
As anyone familiar with Elif’s work recognises, that author is ‘always interested not only in stories but in silences: anyone who feels their story has been silenced or pushed to the periphery, especially women who have been written out of history.’ She claims, for example, that at the heart of Madame Bovary is an Egyptian belly dancer. ‘Flaubert travelled extensively across the Middle East, and I think everything he saw on that trip changed him completely. It was an existential transformation. In Esna he met a real belly dancer who I think deeply influenced the way that iconic book was written […] She has been completely forgotten, and I want people to remember her.’
It is only Elif Shafak who could read Madame Bovary, and find herself tracing Middle Eastern history. Drawn to what she refers to as ‘transcendental’ literature over more ‘autobiographical’ writing, she enjoys ‘going beyond the borders of the self’. ‘You leave your little corner of the universe and the box of identity you’ve been given, and make journeys across geography, time and culture, with imagination as your guide. Once I have a story I research it heavily and try to absorb everything I can. I love interdisciplinary and intercultural study: history, philosophy, science. Then everything comes back to fiction, because fiction is where my heart beats.’
Shelf Life: Elif Shafak
This book made me a reader…
I was an only child, raised by a single working mother and partly by a traditional grandmother, and I thought my life was very boring. Storyland was much more interesting. I grew up with the oral storytelling traditions of the Middle East, the Balkans and Asia Minor, which I’ve always treasured. Then, from my teenage years onwards, I started reading novels, and the European novel also made me who I am. I read A Tale of Two Cities as a child and Don Quixote as a teenager, and discovering those books was mind-blowing. Much later I discovered Orlando. Each was a turning point in my life, because each taught me something crucial, not only about why stories matter but about craftsmanship: how you structure a novel.
This book is one I can’t stop returning to…
Rumi lived 800 years ago, and his voice transcends all borders: cultural, religious, regional, even the borders of time. It’s about our shared humanity. For many years this 13th-century poet from Anatolia, who wrote in Persian, was among the most widely read poets in America. There’s immense empathy, compassion and wisdom in his voice, and those are values sorely needed in our age.
This book broadened my horizons…
Every book has broadened my horizons, even the ones I didn’t enjoy. Every book has expanded my heart and my mind. I might mention Middlemarch, or, for completely different reasons, Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons, or Dostoevsky. The Brothers Karamazov is a very dark book about the follies and flaws of humanity, but you learn so much. I can’t choose just one book, though. It’s the spectrum that matters to me.
This book is my comfort blanket…
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. Whitman speaks to your soul. The beauty of the language, the metaphors and the imagery stay with you. It’s an emotional connection. I don’t reduce literature to a function; it’s like breathing. Only later does the rational mind try to explain it. In the moment you just enjoy the flow and the beauty of the language, and that’s the most genuine explanation. I feel emotionally attached to his verses, to his soul.
I wish I’d written this book…
Anything by James Baldwin. I have so much respect for James Baldwin. He was an amazing author, but also a thinker and someone who cared deeply about humanity and human dignity. He had a big heart.
I can’t stop talking about this book…
This year I judged the Baillie Gifford Prize, and we read more than 90 works of non-fiction. It was an intense and inspiring journey, and very interdisciplinary: we read about nature, antiquity, contemporary politics and history. I loved it. I’d encourage readers to look at the shortlist. I can’t stop talking about all six books on it. (Alexander: God, King, Man by Edmund Richardson won the 2026 prize).
I can’t wait for this book to hit shelves…
The new Peter Frankopan is about Antarctica, and I’m curious about it.
Out 25 February 2027.
I’d recommend this book to anyone and everyone who will listen…
Really I’d just recommend reading, and I’d probably suggest a different book to each reader. But there’s a book from 1972 by the Finnish-Swedish author Tove Jansson. A grandmother and her six-year-old granddaughter spend a summer together on a Finnish island, and the bond between them is so beautiful and universal. It’s emotionally beautiful.
In One Brief Moment All Eternity by Elif Shafak Is Out Now
Viking, Hardback, £20
