WALLANT, EDWARD LEWIS

WALLANT, EDWARD LEWIS (1926–1962), novelist. Although Wallant's writing career was brief, he earned a reputation for craftsmanship and concern for moral values in his works, which included The Human Season (1960), The Pawnbroker (1961; made into a film after its publication), The Tenants of Moonbloom (1963), and Children at the Gate (1964), which dealt compassionately with the lives of ordinary people. Wallant's presentation of Judaism often focuses on a love for the marginalized, the stranger, and the "other," as well as Judaism's demands for dignity and justice. His works are often the ground in which Judaism and Christianity meet, suggesting that there is a common situation for faith as well as a common ground in which they encounter one another. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Galloway, Edward Lewis Wallant (1979). (Lewis Fried (2nd ed.)