Interview with Marta Ottaviani/ Italian press

1. Aşk is going to be published in Italian. It is your ninth book and it was really successful in Turkey. What is you first balance 10 months after the first print?

I am very excited about the Italian publication of my latest novel. AŞK is my ninth novel, it came out in March in Turkey and for the next eight months it was number one best-selling book. It sold almost half a million copies. In addition to that there were hundreds of thousands of illegally printed copies. The interesting thing the book was loved by very different segments of Turkish society. Leftists, liberals, feminists, agnostics, conservatives and religious people… they all found something close to their heart. The reader profile of the book is amazingly wide and diverse.

1. What we can find of Elif Şafak in this book? Is it an autobiographical work?

It is not an autobiographical book in a typical way. For me writing fiction does not necessarily mean telling “my” life to other people. Just the opposite, I am interested in transcending my self while and feeling connected with other people and other centuries. Writing is a mystical experience for me. On the other hand I became interested in Sufism 16 years ago when I was a college student. I wrote my master’s thesis on this subject. At the beginning it was an intellectual curiosity, in time I became emotionally attached. Sufism has a very special place in my heart.

1. When did you star to write this book? Which was its genesis?

I think I was writing this book in my mind for many years. But I had to go through several things in my life before I could sit down and actually write it. I was always interested in Sufism and reading about it and doing research.  However, there came a point when the “knowledge in my mind” stopped and it descended onto my heart. And I wrote my novel not with my mind or logic but with my heart.

1. You wrote nine books till now. Which one are you more fond of? What differences there are between with your previous books? Can you find also a personal evolution?

When I put all my books side by side and take an objective look at them, I realize each of them is so very different. The style is different, the subject is different. Even the energy is different. Because I was a different person at the time I was writing that book. Life, for me, is based on constant change and learning. I am a student of life. Learning never ends. Journey never ends. So each book is a new tour but what really matters is the journey itself. If I have a preference among my books it is for the book that I have not written yet, the one to come.

1. Aşk arrives immediately after Siyah Süt. They are two really different books. Which is the difference between these two works and what is your relations with them? And what is the meaning of a book like Aşk after one like Siyah Süt?

After the birth of my first child I experienced a severe post-natal depression. For 10 months I could not write. I panicked and feared that I could not balance my life as a mother with my life as a writer. After that depression I wrote Black Milk. I looked inside myself, inside motherhood and the selfishness of my profession as a writer. I looked at these things with honesty and humour. I made so much fun of myself. Writing about depression helped me to renew myself. After that renewal I had more inner harmony. So AŞK was written with that inner harmony. This will sound strange but if I hadn’t gone through that depression and hit the bottom, it might have taken me longer to achieve inner peace and therefore, it might have taken me longer to write AŞK.

1. The main peculiarity of Aşk is the deep link with Sufism. Which is your relation with this mystical dimension?

I became interested in Sufism when I was a college student sixteen years ago. And it was very strange that I was attracted to this topic all of a sudden. Because, you see, I did not grow up in a family with Sufi connections. I grew up in a very strictly secular atmosphere. And I did not have any friends who knew anything about Sufism. Just the opposite. I was a leftist, feminist, agnostic young student with no connections with religion. But the subject intrigued me. It almost “called” me. I think there are mystical calls in this world and some people hear these calls, some people don’t. I met a woman from Argentina who lives in the mountains and is in love with Rumi. She doesn’t know why, she doesn’t know how. She is reading Rumi’s poems in Spanish in her little house in the mountains. How does that happen? But it does.

1. Unfortunately in Italy, probably also in Europe, very often people are really aware of what Sufism is. Which can be the impact of an Italian reader with Sufism? And above all, what Sufism can teach to a person who is aware of it?

Sufism is the mystical interpretation of Islam. It is the spiritual dimension of life. It is a very old philosophy. And it is universal and fully embracing. A Sufi is modest, not arrogant. A Sufi has love for humanity, not dogmas. Everything in Sufism revolves around one concept: LOVE.

I think it is a pity that not many people in Europe, or in the world, know much about Sufism today. People are so biased about Islam. There are many clichés. But Sufism challenges those clichés. This is a philosophy based on an inner journey. The goal is to change ourselves, change our ego. It is therefore not only “theoretical” but a teaching that can be applied to life. It can change our lives. It can improve our lives.

1. In several interviews you talked about a big depression after your first child. How is your life today? How can you manage today your work of novelist and your role on mother? And in general how do you think that this role changed for Turkish women, now that they are becoming more and more independent?

Turkey is a very interesting, complicated country. Women are very active and visible in many areas, like academia, media, medicine, advertisement etc. However they are almost invisible in politics and it is still a patriarchal culture. So depending on which area you focus you might get a different image of Turkish women. The area of literature and art is open to women. We have always had great women poets and writers. However, the written culture is still man dominated. Most fiction readers are women but most writers are men. Women read, men write. I use my “imagination” and the old art of “storytelling” to feel more independent as a woman.

1. In 2010 Istanbul will become the European Capital of Culture. The negotiations for the entry of Turkey in the European Union are going much more better than in the past due to the reforms that Turkey is implementing to reach this goal. What we can with to Istanbul and Turkey for 2010? And how do you see Turkish society today?

Turkish society has an amazing capacity to renew itself. This is a very dynamic, colourful society. And very young. I do support Turkey’s EU membership wholeheartedly. I think we all need each other. Populist politicians always make a distinction between “us” and “them”. But artists and writers have to show that there is no such thing. We are all interconnected. And if Islam and Western democracy can live side by side under the same roof that will have long-term positive consequences for the region and the whole world.

1. In Turkish Aşk means “love”. What love can do for us in our life?

Love can save us from our illusions. The worst illusion in life is the illusion that “I” am separated from all other human beings. That this is “my wife,” “my house,” “my career”, “my car”…. Love can save us from distance between “me” and “other”. Or the distance between “created” and “Creator”. Love shows us the connections. We live in a world in which the unhappiness of someone in Pakistan can affect the life of someone in Canada. In this world nobody lives in a vacuum anymore. The sorrow of one person can sadden the entire humanity. The happiness of one person can contribute to the joy of all. Love helps us to overcome our animal ego and feel connected with the universe.

Many many thanks,
Elif