Halper, Albert, 1904-1984

Albert Halper (1904-1984), American author best known for his naturalistic short stories and novels, was born on Chicago's West Side, the fifth child of Jewish-Lithuanian immigrants.

After graduating from high school, Halper worked at a variety of jobs in a mail order house, electrotype foundry, loose-leaf binder factory, wholesale beauty parlor supply house, and the post office. His career as a writer began in 1928, when Marianne Moore accepted an essay and a short story for publication in The Dial magazine. Thus encouraged, Halper moved to New York City. He first came to national attention in 1933 with the publication of Union Square, a novel about the lives of several residents of the neighborhood adjacent to New York's Union Square. The novel's theme of social protest and its focus on working class characters led critics to deem him a proletarian novelist, although the left-wing press chided him for not being sufficiently revolutionary and Halper himself rejected this classification.

The success of Union Square was followed by the publication of a volume of short stories, On the Shore (1934), and four novels, The Foundry (1934), The Chute (1937), Sons of the Fathers (1940), and The Little People (1942), based on his experience of Jewish family life and labor in Chicago. A collection of related short stories, The Golden Watch (1953), drew on the same background. Halper's memoir of the Thirties, Good-Bye, Union Square, was published in 1970. A biography, Albert Halper by John E. Hart, appeared in 1980.

Albert Halper (1904-1984), American author best known for his naturalistic short stories and novels, was born on Chicago's West Side, the fifth child of Jewish-Lithuanian immigrants. After graduating from high school, Halper worked at a variety of jobs in a mail order house, electrotype foundry, loose-leaf binder factory, wholesale beauty parlor supply house, and the post office. His career as a writer began in 1928, when Marianne Moore accepted an essay and a short story for publication in The Dial magazine. Thus encouraged, Halper moved to New York City. He first came to national attention in 1933 with the publication of Union Square, a novel about the lives of several residents of the neighborhood adjacent to New York's Union Square. The novel's theme of social protest and its focus on working class characters led critics to deem him a proletarian novelist, although the left-wing press chided him for not being sufficiently revolutionary and Halper himself rejected this classification.

The success of Union Square was followed by the publication of a volume of short stories, On the Shore (1934), and four novels, The Foundry (1934), The Chute (1937), Sons of the Fathers (1940), and The Little People (1942), based on his experience of Jewish family life and labor in Chicago. A collection of related short stories, The Golden Watch (1953), drew on the same background. Halper's memoir of the Thirties, Good-Bye, Union Square, was published in 1970. A biography, Albert Halper by John E. Hart, appeared in 1980.