10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World Study Guide

Activist, political scientist, professor, and acclaimed author of 21 books (and counting), Elif Shafak was born October 25, 1971, in Strasbourg, France. Her parents separated when she was very young, and she was raised by her mother and maternal grandmother in Turkey. These women were enormously influential figures in Shafak’s life: her mother was a modern woman with Westernized sensibilities, and her grandmother was a gentle and spiritual storyteller. Originally born Elif Bilgin, Shafak she dropped her surname and adopted her mother’s first name, Şafak—meaning “dawn” in Turkish—when she began publishing her work. As a staunch advocate for human rights, much of Shafak’s writing explores themes related to marginalization, gender and identity, and the politics of intersectionality. However, her activism and outspokenness have not come without consequence. After publishing The Bastard of Istanbul in 2006, Shafak was prosecuted—and acquitted—by the Turkish government for “insulting Turkishness” based on her novel’s references to the Armenian genocide. In 2019, Turkey began investigating her work yet again, citing her inclusion of “obscene” subjects like child abuse to justify its renewed persecution of her freedom of expression. Over the years, Shafak has taught at universities across Turkey, the United States, and the United Kingdom, including Oxford, and she was awarded the British Academy President’s Medal in 2024 for her impressive body of work. She currently lives and writes in London.

Spanning from the 1940s to the 1990s, the events of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World play out against the backdrop of Turkey’s increasingly turbulent sociopolitical landscape. During this period, the country struggled to define a national identity, pulled between the opposing forces of modernization and Western influence on one side, and more conservative, nationalistic values on the other. Military coups, most notably in 1960, 1971, and 1980, aimed to stabilize this political unrest and curb dissent, but they ultimately only led to a climate of greater fear and oppression. During the 1960s and ‘70s, the rise of leftist and communist movements sparked hope for greater equality, especially among students, laborers, and intellectuals who wanted to challenge existing power structures. This perspective is exemplified by D/Ali, whose character embodies a revolutionary spirit and commitment to the communist vision. However, as political tensions escalated, the government began harsh crackdowns on resistance movements, culminating in events like the 1977 International Workers’ Day massacre, where D/Ali tragically loses his life. As conservative ideologies became more entrenched in Turkish society, particularly with regard to social norms surrounding gender and sexuality, sex work was further stigmatized, and sex workers were targeted on a national scale. Violence against women and other vulnerable groups has only risen in Turkey since the 1990s, an injustice reinforced by legal structures and cultural norms.

Much of Elif Shafak’s work delves into themes of memory, cultural conflict, and the experiences of marginalized groups, particularly in Turkey. The 40 Rules of Love and Honour, two of Shafak’s other acclaimed novels, are natural follow-ups for readers who appreciate the unflinching honesty of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, as they similarly explore human connection and societal expectations. Nobel laureate and fellow Turkish author Orhan Pamuk also often centers the clash between Eastern and Western cultures in his writing. A Strangeness in My Mind and The Museum of Innocence, for instance, offer richly detailed portrayals of the realities of Turkish life and identity, providing a complementary perspective to Shafak’s narratives. Priscilla Morris’s Black Butterflies, set during the siege of Sarajevo and shortlisted for numerous awards, shares Shafak’s focus on resilience in times of political turmoil. Shafak has previously cited Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote, Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov as her foremost literary influences, stories that took risks and share the foundational themes of the search for identity, challenging societal norms, and the complexities of the human condition.