zden Szalan (ph.D. Essex) is Associate Professor at the Department of American Culture and Literature at Istanbul University. She has worked in the past as a journalist and film critic and directed...ver maiszden Szalan (ph.D. Essex) is Associate Professor at the Department of American Culture and Literature at Istanbul University. She has worked in the past as a journalist and film critic and directed several theatrical performances. She is the author of The Staged Encounter: Contemporary Feminism and Women's Drama (Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag, 2004) and The Stage in the Text: Essays on American Drama (Istanbul:Okuyanus,2006). She has contributed chapters to books on literary theory and published articles on English, American and Turkish Literature. She lives in Istanbul, the city she loves passionately, and when she feels exhausted she also dreams of a life of retirement on the Aegean coast.ver menos