“Visibility and Invisibility in Southern Women’s Literature,” is an affiliated group session, hosted by the Elizabeth Madox Roberts Society.  One of the panel’s goals is to connect to the theme of SAMLA 96: “Seen and Unseen.”  In that spirit, the session coordinator invites papers that address the theme in a wide variety of ways, with the hope that this session will engender a rich and robust discussion of how the writing of Southern women has examined what is either visible or invisible, seen or unseen.  While the EMRS invites papers from all approaches, we are particularly interested in papers that emphasize how the theme is connected to gender or to the South–or both.   

Elizabeth Madox Roberts was an acclaimed author in the 1920s and 1930s before largely disappearing from both the public and critical spheres.  The EMRS works to increase Roberts’ visibility by discussing her work with other scholars and lovers of literature.  In the last century, she has been both seen and unseen, and she focused on women in her work, oftentimes bringing visibility to aspects of women’s lives that were too often unseen or invisible to outsiders.  This session aims to discuss writers, like Roberts, who created similar works that deserve to be seen and recognized in serious discussions.      
Abstracts of approximately 250 words should be submitted to James Stamant at jstamant@agnesscott.edu by June 20, 2024.  A CV or bio should be included.