Department

English

Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

2023

Abstract

This is a brief overview of how I continue to be engaged with research on Elizabeth Robins in the context of other women writers, post-retirement. The presentation's subtitle might be phrased as "From my study of the one-woman show in graduate school to creative and poetic approaches as emerita researcher." I maintain the Elizabeth Robins Web at JSU and have presented two papers (virtually at recent SAMLA conferences) since leaving the classroom. I outline several of my creative approaches to women's biography through my academic career. I am particularly interested in the format of several poetry collections that piece together a life of a prominent woman with clear autobiographical content from the author. Carole Oles has authored "Inventions on the Life of Harriet Hosmer" and "Inventions on the Life of Maria Mitchell." Honoree Fanonne Jeffers produced the impressive "The Age of Phillis" based on her research on Phillis Wheatley. Each volume might be characterized as biographical recovery filtered by creative and personal touches. Jeffers credits in an online talk (not in her bibliography) Saidiya Hartman’s concept of “Critical Fabulation” This notion I think applies as well to Oles and the short creative pieces I am planning for my further work on Robins. In addition, I briefly share some ideas on how I have informally outlined an idea for a novel based on accomplishments of Elizabeth Robins, partly situated at the Vassar Alumnae House, 1942, where my biography’s epilogue is set.

Publication/Presentation Information

Jacksonville State University’s Faculty Research Symposium, Jacksonville AL. Short presentation in Room B-01 at 3:30 – 3:45, November 3, 2022, Merrill Hall. Circulated privately; not previously published. Program of the Symposium available at JSU Faculty Commons.

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