Political statements by writers are so common as to practically come with the job description and, no matter how sincerely delivered, often seem timed to ignite interest in a book. Rarer is the writer who takes a stand in total opposition to their commercial interests. On Monday, however, that’s what Elizabeth Gilbert, the novelist and self-help guru, did when she posted a video to social media, outlining her decision to withhold publication of her new novel indefinitely in deference to sensitivities around the war in Ukraine. The statement triggered an avalanche of inflamed commentary and scorn, and a reboot of a discussion that has continued, on and off, for decades about Gilbert and what exactly her deal is.
Gilbert’s novel is set in Russia but has nothing to do with Vladimir Putin. Instead, The Snow Forest follows the fortunes of a family in 1930s Siberia trying to escape the reach of the Soviet government. It also has an environmental theme, highlighting the destruction of the natural world by industrialisation. Nonetheless, as Gilbert outlines in the video, she has received an “enormous, massive outpouring” from her readers in Ukraine, expressing “anger, sorrow, disappointment and pain” at her decision to set a novel in the land of the oppressor. On that basis, she is making a “course correction” and “removing the book from its publication schedule”.
