Wildcat–the 2023 biographical film about Flannery O’Connor–is notable for its unconventional style. Rather than narrating the author’s life in a linear, straightforward fashion, the film fuses scenes from O’Connor’s fiction with events in the author’s life and the musings of her imagination. As a result, the film feels fragmented and somewhat difficult to categorize–both in terms of genre and the ultimate connection between the facts of O’Connor’s life and the purpose of her fiction.  Instead, the viewer feels the influence of the author’s inner conflicts in relation to a variety of issues: Her Catholic upbringing, bodily difference and disability, and humanity’s capacity for redemption. In short, the film echoes the “many lives” O’Connor and O’Connor’s fiction have had on American literature and culture. 

This special session, then, invites new and innovative approaches to the work and legacy of Flannery O’Connor, with particular emphasis on her influence beyond mid-twentieth-century American literature. Papers are especially welcome that reconsider O’Connor not only as a foundational figure in Southern Gothic fiction, but as a dynamic presence shaping contemporary literary production, popular culture, and evolving conversations around disability. 

Potential Topics Could Include:

• O’Connor’s influence on 21st-century writers–perhaps implicit as in the case of writers like Cormac McCarthy–and emerging literary movements

• Adaptations of O’Connor’s work across film, television, theater, or digital media

• The presence of O’Connor-esque themes, aesthetics, or narrative strategies in popular culture

• New frameworks for understanding disability in O’Connor’s fiction (e.g., disability studies, crip theory, neurodiversity)

• The relationship between O’Connor’s illness (lupus) and her literary imagination

• Intersections of disability with race, religion, gender, and class in her work

• Ethical questions surrounding the grotesque body and representations of difference

• O’Connor’s reception among contemporary audiences and communities

• Any of the topics above as they relate to the conference theme of “Our Ruling Classes: Culture, Power, Conflict.” 

Submit abstracts of 500 words or less directly to PAMLA'S online submisison system:  http://pamla.ballastacademic.com by May 15th 2026. 

Preference will be given to papers that explore O’Connor’s complicated representation of disability, as well as research avenues that make O’Connor accessible to  contemporary or modern audiences.  By foregrounding influence, adaptation, and disability, this panel aims to situate O’Connor within ongoing cultural and critical conversations, highlighting the continued urgency—and complication—of her work.