Elif Shafak’s new novel explores storytelling in a time of crisis

About this episode

Elif Shafak explains that her latest novel, In One Brief Moment All Eternity, grew out of her struggle with depression and anxiety. It also reflects her broader concerns about the role of writing in a world shaped by wars and violence, division, climate crisis and technological uncertainties. She calls the present “the age of three As: Angst, Anger and AI.” The book is a fictionalized life of Gustave Flaubert, whose years of obscurity and experience of being misunderstood drew her interest. Shafak describes the novel as a love letter to literature and asks whether stories still matter in a time of crisis. Shafak tells the story through a chorus of women and other figures connected to…