A Salute to Every Tolstoy Across Borders

It was many moons ago when an academic researching "women writers in the Middle East" wanted to interview me in Istanbul. We met in a bustling café by the Bosphorus, where we spoke at length about literature and gender politics. At one point, she smiled and remarked that it was “understandable” for me to be a feminist, given that I lived in this patriar…