Theodore Pratt: A Florida Writer’s Life

Theodore Pratt (1901-1969) was the author of fifteen books about the Sunshine State, earning him the informal title of ＂Literary Laureate of Florida.＂ He portrayed the culture of South Florida from its pioneer days to the middle of the twentieth century, especially in his ＂Florida Trilogy,＂ which includes his most famous book, The Barefoot Mailman (1943). He also wrote vividly about the Florida Keys in Mercy Island (1941), theEverglades in Escape to Eden (1953), and Chief Osceola in a novel and a play both called Seminole (1953/1954). Writing in the golden age of Hollywood, his books were made into movies, most notably The Incredible Mr. Limpet, a beloved live-action animated comedy starring Don Knotts. Pratt also embraced the paperback revolution of the 1950s along with fellow Florida writer and friend, John D. MacDonald. Additionally, Pratt’s career intersected with such famous Florida figures as Harry Crews, Ernest Hemingway, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Zora Neale Hurston, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and Burt Reynolds. Taking a lively and nostalgic tour through vintage mid-century Florida, this biography is for fans of the Sunshine State as well as lovers of literature and film.

Taylor Hagood is Professor of American Literature at Florida Atlantic University, the institution which houses the Theodore Pratt Collection. He is the author or editor of eight books and over seventy short publications. His scholarly monographs include Faulkner’s Imperialism: Space, Place, and the Materiality of Myth (LSU Press, 2008); Secrecy, Magic, and the One-Act Plays of Harlem Renaissance Women Playwrights (Ohio State University Press, 2010); and Faulkner, Writer of Disability (LSU Press, 2014), which won the C. Hugh Holman Award for Best Book in Southern Studies. His co-edited book, Undead Souths: The Gothic and Beyond in Southern Literature and Culture (LSU Press, 2105), was reviewed in a range of venues, was well-received in the field, and spawned a subseries which has included his coedited 2020 volume, Swamps Souths: Literary and Cultural Ecologies. His biography/true crime, Stringbean: The Life and Murder of a Country Music Legend, is forthcoming as part of the University of Illinois Press’s ＂Music in American Life＂ series as one of the last endorsements of Loretta Lynn. He has lectured in the United States, Canada, South American, and Europe to both academic and general audiences. He regularly lectures in south Florida at The Society of the Four Arts, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Palm Beach Historical Society, and private clubs such as Boca West Country Club, Ballen Isles Country Club, and Heron Bay.