Elizabeth Gilbert receives backlash for pulling her upcoming book

Best-selling author of Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert, receives furious backlash from other writers for caving to demands to PULL her new book The Snow Forest because it’s set in Russia: ‘This move sets a bad precedent for writers with less money’

• Elizabeth Gilbert announced her new book ‘The Snow Forest’ last Tuesday
• Within a week she announced she would pull it over criticism it is set in Russia
• Now she faces more backlash as other writers say she set a ‘terrible precedent’ 

American author Elizabeth Gilbert has been criticized by other authors for buckling to pressure and canceling the publication of her upcoming book over outrage that it was set in Russia.

Gilbert, 53, announced last week that ‘The Snow Forest’ would be set in remote Siberia in the mid-20th century and tell the story of a secluded family isolating themselves from the Soviet Union.

But on Monday, after a backlash from Ukrainian readers over deciding to set the book in Russia, Gilbert posted on Twitter that she would call off its scheduled publication.

Now that decision has also come under attack – an opinion piece in The Atlantic on Monday afternoon accused her of ‘setting a terrible precedent,’ while literary advocacy group PEN America labeled her ‘wrongheaded’.

But legendary author Joyce Carol Oates responded to PEN America on Twitter and said that the move was nothing out of the ordinary.

American author Elizabeth Gilbert has been criticized after announcing Monday that she called off the upcoming publication of her new book over criticism it was set in Russia

An opinion piece in The Atlantic on Monday afternoon was mockingly titled ‘Eat, Pray, Pander.’ On Twitter its author Franklin Foer called Gilbert ‘feckless’ over her decision top pull the book

Author Leigh Stein argued that pulling the book would not protect innocent Ukrainians from harm but could cause issues for authors with less money and flexibility than Gilbert

‘Setting aside a novel that is likely to be controversial is not an extreme move; many writers have put manuscripts in the drawer realizing that this is not the right time to publish,’ she wrote.

Gilbert is the author of the novel ‘City of Girls’ and the memoir ‘Eat, Pray, Love,’ which was turned into a Hollywood blockbuster starring Javier Bardem and Julia Roberts. It sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, according to Gilbert’s website, netting sales in the region of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Author Leigh Stein, wrote on Twitter that although she sympathized with Gilbert, she said the move ‘sets bad precedent for writers with less money, career stability, and clout than she has’.

‘Canceling the publication of this novel will make not one iota of material difference for innocent Ukrainian citizens,’ she went on.

In a tweet promoting The Atlantic article, its author Frank Foer described Gilbert’s response to the initial criticisms as ‘feckless’.

Foer also argued in the article that pulling the book achieved nothing.

‘I’m struggling to conjure a reason for why the delay of Gilbert’s book benefits anyone. Perhaps it saves some of her fans from having to reconcile the fact that they might enjoy a story set in a country they despise,’ wrote Foer.

He also said it might make those readers feel like they had a small victory, ‘but that’s a meaningless victory fought in the name of a deeply confused principle,’ he added.

‘By withdrawing the book, she has set a terrible precedent. In meekly complying with the angriest voices, she accepted their argument that setting a book in Russia is an act of collusion, even though that’s an entirely nonsensical argument,’ wrote Foer.

‘Gilbert had a chance to gently explain herself and defend her work, to argue for the importance of literature in a time of war, but she chose to abnegate her responsibilities as a writer and go another way: Eat, pray, pander.’

The cover of Gilbert’s upcoming book ‘The Snow Forest,’ which is set in remote Siberia tells the story of a secluded family living isolated from the Soviet regime

‘Eat, Pray, Love’ sold more than 10 million copies worldwide netting sales in the region of hundreds of millions of dollars

Foer’s opinions appeared to be large reflected in a statement published Suzanne Nossel, the CEO of non-profit PEN America.

‘It is regrettable that Elizabeth Gilbert felt it necessary to delay the publication of a novel set in Russia,’ wrote Nossel. ‘The publication of a novel set in Russia should not be cast as an act exacerbating oppression. Fiction and culture are essential to supporting mutual understanding and unleashing empathy.’

‘We hope Gilbert might reconsider and we urge others to rally around the on-time publication of her book, and the principle that literature and creativity must not become a casualty of war.’

But some original critics of Gilbert’s decision to set her book in Russia returned to Twitter, many criticizing the use of the word ‘casualty’ and mentioned the scale of Ukrainian death since Russia’s invasion in last February.

‘Instead of supporting the empathetic and compassionate Elizabeth Gilbert, who heard us and made a difficult but incredibly caring decision, you decided that the real “casualty” of this war is books,’ wrote one person.

‘I doubt that books set in russia are the most heartbreaking casualty in this war, when UA authors,dancers,actors & musicians are literally dying on the frontlines,’ wrote another. 

Some original critics of Gilbert’s original decision to set the book in Russia returned to Twitter to support Gilbert after she pulled the book

The statement form PEN America encouraging people to ‘rally around the on-time publication of her book’ was criticized for labeling Gilbert’s book a ‘casualty’ 

The second bout of controversy arose when Gilbert posted a video to Twitter Monday to say that an ‘outpouring’ of negative reaction within a week of the book’s announcement had compelled her to call off its publication.

‘Over the course of this weekend I have received an enormous, massive outpouring of reaction and responses from my Ukrainian readers expressing anger, sorrow, disappointment and pain about the fact that I would choose to release a book into the world right now – any book, no matter what the subject of it is – that is set in Russia,’ said Gilbert in the short video.

‘I do not want to add any harm to a group of people who have already experienced – and who are continuing to experience – grievous and extreme harm,’ she said. 

‘I want to say that I have heard these messages, and read these messages and respect them, and as a result I am making a course correction and I am removing the book from its publication schedule,’ she said. ‘It is not the time for this book to be published.’

The Snow Forest was due to be released in February 2024 and Gilbert said in a caption that anybody who pre-ordered the book would be refunded.

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