Edward Lewis Wallant

Edward Lewis Wallant (1926-1962) was an American writer. During his life he published the novels "The Human Season" (1960) and "The Pawnbroker" (1961). Wallant - a devoted family man with much potential - died of an aneurysm at the age of 36. Two of his novels were published posthumously - "The Tenants of Moonbloom" (1963) and "The Children at the Gate" (1964)

Wallant began to write professionally aged thirty. He had served in the second world war, and had attended art school in New York. He had spent some time as an advertising art director in the city.

Wallant has an elegant and fluid writing style - his books are written in rich, free-flowing prose. Wallant has been compared to other Jewish American writers such as Saul Bellow and Phillip Roth

He was survived by his wife Joyce, who passed away in 1991; is survived by his son Scott, daughters Leslie and Kim, grandchildren Nina, Steve, Nora, Eddie, Jon, Esme and Ruth.

Legacy

Shortly after Wallant's death in 1962, the Edward Lewis Wallant Award was established at the University of Hartford. It is presented annually to an American writer whose fiction is considered to have significance for American Jews. The first awardee was Norman Fruchter.

Bibliography

*"The Human Season" (1960)
*"The Pawnbroker" (1961)
*"The Tenants of Moonbloom" (1963)
*"The Children at the Gate" (1964)

External links

* [http://www.granta.com/Contributors/Dara-Horn Edward Lewis Wallant Award given to Dana Horn]

* [http://www.hartford.edu/greenberg/wallant.asp Official site of the Edward Lewis Wallant Awards]