Allen Pridgen

Background

Allen Pridgen was born on October 16, 1943, in Portsmouth, Virginia, United States. He is the son of Rufus Allen Pridgen and Lois Pridgen (later surname - Barnes).

Education

Allen Pridgen began his studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965. Three years later in 1968, he obtained a Master of Arts degree from East Carolina University. He also got a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Florida State University in 1975.

Career

Allen Pridgen began his teaching career at Richard Bland College in 1971 as an assistant professor of English, the position he held till 1976. From 1978 till 1987 he was a professor of English at Chowan University. Then he joined Virginia Intermont College (now-defunct) as a professor of English and program coordinator. He retired in 2001. During his career, he also was an assistant professor at Methodist College in 1978, a visitor at the National Humanities Center in 1993 and 1995, and a visiting scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996, 1997, and 1998.

Pridgen is also the author of the book Walker Percy's Sacramental Landscapes: The Search in the Desert published in 2001. It is the analysis of Walker Percy's works The Last Gentleman, The Second Coming, Love in the Ruins, and The Thanatos Syndrome. Pridgen also contributed articles and reviews to periodicals, including the Mississippi Quarterly, Renascence, the Virginian-Pilot, and the Southern Quarterly.

Achievements

• Allen Pridgen is known as an outstanding educator who devoted many of his years to teaching, in particular to Virginia Intermont College. For his merits, he received the Appalachian College Association Mellon grant in 1994. In 1996, 1997, and 1998, he was a Mellon fellow. His only book Walker Percy's Sacramental Landscapes: The Search in the Desert received a very good response.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Walker Percy's Sacramental Landscapes: The Search in the Desert

    (The book Walker Percy's Sacramental Landscapes maintains ...)

    2001

Membership

Allen Pridgen is a member of the Southern Humanities Council, American Literature Association, College English Association, Society for the Study of Southern Literature, Christianity and Literature Association, and South Atlantic Modern Language Association.

Connections

Allen Pridgen married a woman, named Linda, on May 28, 1983. The marriage produced one child, Nathaniel.

Father:

Rufus Allen Pridgen

Mother:

Lois Pridgen