Elif şafak’s novel reimagines Istanbul through many voices
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
Turkish-British author Elif Şafak will publish her new novel, “In One Brief Moment All Eternity,” in the United Kingdom on October 15th.
The book centers on Gustave Flaubert’s journey to the East and reinterprets his story through the perspectives of the women who influenced him. Şafak aims to give voice to those historically overlooked, including a governess, Egyptian dancer, and a passionate lover, alongside less conventional narrators like chamomile and the disease syphilis. Şafak portrays Istanbul as a multilayered city, “like a set of nesting dolls,” with multiple versions existing simultaneously.
The novel spans locations including Istanbul, Paris, Cairo, Palestine, and Beirut, exploring themes of who is remembered and who is erased from collective memory. Through her work, Şafak examines the power of storytelling amid political upheaval and asks where hope can be found when the world seems to fall apart. Şafak’s literary journey has consistently challenged taboos and explored identity, leading to legal troubles in Turkey.
She faced prosecution under a law prohibiting insult to Turkishness after addressing the Armenian genocide in her novel “The Bastard of Istanbul,” and has continued to face scrutiny for addressing sensitive topics like gender-based violence. Şafak also publicly mourned the 2020 conversion of Hagia Sophia from a museum back into a mosque, viewing it as a loss for Istanbul’s cosmopolitan identity.
