Edward Lewis Wallant wrote four novels which attracted a small but enthusiastic readership. Born 19 October 1926 in New Haven, Connecticut, Wallant died young on 5 December 1962. As a modern novelist, Wallant is important for his thoughtful but cautious refusal to accept as insuperable the existential despair and the universal isolation of modern man so often encountered in his contemporaries' works. Wallant's quiet affirmation of the worth and joy of life is often contrasted, for example, with the absurdist vision of Bruce Jay Friedman and the implacable bitterness of Nathanael West. Wallant differs further from his contemporaries in his Romantic temperament. Though Wallant attended the University of Connecticut and studied at both the Pratt Institute and the New School for Social Research, his heroes are mostly from uneducated lower-class society. Despite Wallant's profession as a graphics artist for several advertising agencies, he seldom introduces characters who are either professionals or businessmen...