In Conversation: Theodore Pratt, FAU, and Florida Historical Writing

Taylor Hagood, Professor of American Literature at Florida Atlantic University, joins Dean Michael Horswell in our latest edition of In Conversation. They discuss author Theodore Pratt and his literary work detailing Florida society from the late 1800s to the middle of the twentieth century.

Taylor Hagood is Professor of American Literature in FAU's English Department. Much of his scholarship has focused on the writing of William Faulkner, African American literature, Gothic and horror literature, and the literature of the United States South. Among his literary critical publications are the coedited volume Undead Souths: The Gothic and Beyond in Southern Literature and Culture and the monograph, Faulkner, Writer of Disability, winner of the C. Hugh Holman Award for Best Book in Southern Studies.

 Along with his literary critical work, Professor Hagood has written nonfiction, biography, and true crime. His 2023 book, Stringbean: The Life and Murder of a Country Music Legend, explores the story of David "Stringbean" Akeman. His most recent book, Theodore Pratt: A Florida Writer's Life, draws upon the Pratt archive in FAU's Special Collections to present the life story of the mid-twentieth century's "Literary Laureate of Florida."