'We have to slow down': Elif Shafak on the distinction between information, knowledge and wisdom
In a Q interview, the award-winning novelist discusses the transformative power of art and fiction
When the British-Turkish author Elif Shafak was a child, she observed that there were two types of stories: ones that were widely shared and others that were forgotten or silenced. She came to this profound realization after listening to her wise grandmother, whose memories painted a different picture of Turkey than the one she learned about in school.
"As storytellers, we love stories, we chase stories," Shafak tells Q's Tom Power in an interview. "But I think we are — or at least I am — equally drawn to silences. And when you're a novelist from a country like Turkey, we're talking about a nation state, a country that has a very rich, complex and long history, but that does not necessarily translate into strong memory. If anything, I think we are a society of collective amnesia."
In 2006, Shafak, a Booker finalist who's best known for her novels, was prosecuted in Turkey for "insulting Turkishness." The charges arose from remarks made by a fictional character in her novel, The Bastard of Istanbul, which recognized the Armenian genocide. She now lives in self-exile in the United Kingdom, where she recently published her latest novel, There Are Rivers in the Sky.
Like her grandmother who taught her that there are different paths to knowledge, Shafak believes fiction can reveal deeper truths by acting as a bridge between written and oral culture.
"The magic of literature is so subtle and it's long-lasting," she explains. "Something shifts inside our soul…. Everything that's inside life is the subject of fiction. Inside a novel, you will find politics and psychology, technology, neuroscience or history and philosophy. But perhaps more importantly, there's emotional intelligence. I don't know a single human being in this world who does not need to connect with their emotions."
But for Shafak, there's a clear distinction between information, knowledge and wisdom. She says too much information, like the constant stream of news, can merely give us the illusion of knowledge.
"The paradox is we're living in an age in which we have way too much information — more than we can process — but very little knowledge and even less wisdom," she tells Power. "We have to slow down. We need slow journalism, in-depth analysis, podcasts, conversations like the one we're having right now where we can hear each other. We need books. I think for wisdom, we have to bring the heart into the conversation. So wisdom also requires emotional intelligence. And for that, we also need literature and art, because without empathy, I don't think we can have wisdom."
The full interview with Elif Shafak is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Elif Shafak produced by Ben Edwards.