Hal Ellson

Not to be confused with Harlan Ellison.

Harold "Hal" Ellson (1910 – October 31, 1994 in Brooklyn)[1] was an American author of pulp fiction whose work primarily focused on juvenile delinquency, a field in which he has been described as "one of the most popular" writers[2][3] and as "legendary".[4]

Ellson was a social worker,[5] recreational therapist, and nurse's aide at Bellevue Hospital,[1] where he encountered the adolescent psychiatric patients on whom he based much of his fiction; he subsequently stated that many of the patients viewed him as a "father confessor", and eagerly told him their stories while trusting that he would not report them to law enforcement.[6] As a result, Nelson Algren described Ellson's work as "just straight case studies."[7]

Frederic Wertham was an aficionado of Ellson's work, favorably reviewing Ellson's 1949 novel "Duke" in the American Journal of Psychotherapy, and providing an introduction to Ellson's 1950 novel Tomboy;[8] as well, Wertham subsequently cited Tomboy in the first chapter of his own 1954 Seduction of the Innocent.[9]

Harlan Ellison cites Ellson's work as having inspired his own interest in juvenile delinquency — an interest which led directly to the writing of Ellison's first novel, Web of the City.[10][11] Ellison has also stated that in the earliest days of his career as a writer, he was often mistaken for Ellson writing under a pseudonym — and that decades later, when Ellison had become much more known and Ellson's career had waned, Ellson was often mistaken for Ellison writing under a pseudonym.[10]

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hal Ellson; Novelist, 84, in the New York Times; published November 9, 1994; retrieved July 2, 2014
  2. ↑ October Cities: The Redevelopment of Urban Literature, by Carlo Rotella (quoting Claude Brown); published April 21, 1998, by University of California Press (via Google Books)
  3. ↑ Rebels: Youth and the Cold War Origins of Identity, by Leerom Medovoi; published June 2, 2005, by Duke University Press (via Google Books)
  4. ↑ The Beat Generation and the Popular Novel in the United States, 1945-1970, by Thomas Newhouse; published June 16, 2000, by McFarland & Company (via Google Books)
  5. ↑ What America Read: Taste, Class, and the Novel, 1920-1960, by Gordon Hutner; published November 1, 2009, by University of North Carolina Press (via Google Books)
  6. ↑ Encyclopedia of Pulp Fiction Writers, by Lee Server; published January 1, 2009, by Infobase Publishing (via Google Books)
  7. ↑ Nelson Algren, The Art of Fiction No. 11, by Alston Anderson and Terry Southern; in the Paris Review; originally published Winter 1955; retrieved July 2, 2014
  8. ↑ Fredric Wertham and 'Tomboy', by Steve Duin, at the Oregonian; published January 6, 2010; retrieved July 2, 2014
  9. ↑ Seduction of the Innocent, by Fredric Wertham; published 1954; archived at Scribd; retrieved July 2, 2014
  10. 1 2 alt.fan.harlan-ellison FAQ, Version: 1.5, compiled by James Shearhart and Rick Wyatt, with direct consultation of Harlan Ellison; at HarlanEllison.com; last modified November 26, 1995; retrieved July 2, 2014
  11. ↑ Harlan Ellison: The Edge of Forever, by Ellen Weil and Gary K. Wolfe, published 2002 by Ohio State University Press (via Google Books)
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