Elif Shafak’s novel reimagines Flaubert through the lives around him
Elif Shafak’s new novel portrays Gustave Flaubert through the perspectives of women and other figures in his life, exploring the tension between his imaginative empathy and the charge that he treated women unfairly. The review presents the book as a love letter to literature, asking how writers can inhabit other lives while still limiting the characters they create.
Across 600 pages, Emma Bovary summons 30 voices, alternating with a third-person narrator; Shafak does not attempt to speak in Flaubert’s own voice. The reviewer praises her vivid depiction of Flaubert’s childhood and relationships, and finds the account of Jamilah the camel especially moving, while noting that some fanciful chapters may test readers’ patience.
In short
- Shafak tells Flaubert’s story through 30 voices summoned by Emma Bovary.
- The novel examines his empathy and the limits of his portrayal of women.
- The reviewer praises its emotional scenes but finds some chapters fanciful.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Shafak’s approach can be seen as a thoughtful way to examine literature’s power and limits: by giving voice to women and other figures around Flaubert, the novel explores how a writer might imagine lives beyond his own while still portraying them unfairly. Its many perspectives also let readers reconsider a celebrated author without pretending to speak in his voice.
The case against
A reader might argue that judging Flaubert through imagined voices risks imposing a present-day framework on a historical writer, and that a novel should not be expected to settle questions about the fairness of his characters. The 30-voice structure and fanciful episodes may also distract from the literary inquiry, making the book’s critique feel less persuasive or its demands on the reader too great.
Explained simply
Gustave Flaubert was a 19th-century French novelist, best known for Madame Bovary, the story of Emma, a woman dissatisfied with provincial life and drawn to romance and luxury. The book became a landmark of literary realism, a style that aimed to depict ordinary life in close detail.
Flaubert’s fiction has also prompted debate about how writers portray women and other people whose lives they have not lived. Elif Shafak is a contemporary British-Turkish novelist whose books often move between different voices and perspectives. Her novel’s approach raises a broader question about the gap between imagining another person’s experience and representing them fairly.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “In One Brief Moment All Eternity by Elif Shafak review – what Madame Bovary thought of Flaubert”.