Harold "Hal" Ellson (1910 – October 31, 1994 in Brooklyn)
in ''

the New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''; published November 9, 1994; retrieved July 2, 2014 was an American author of

pulp fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rha ...

whose work primarily focused on

juvenile delinquency Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a person ...

, a field in which he has been described as "one of the most popular" writersOctober Cities: The Redevelopment of Urban Literature
by Carlo Rotella (quoting Claude Brown); published April 21, 1998, by

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facult ...

(via

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

)Rebels: Youth and the Cold War Origins of Identity
by Leerom Medovoi; published June 2, 2005, by

Duke University Press Duke University Press is an academic publisher and university press affiliated with Duke University. It was founded in 1921 by William T. Laprade as The Trinity College Press. (Duke University was initially called Trinity College). In 1926 Du ...

(via

) and as "legendary".The Beat Generation and the Popular Novel in the United States, 1945-1970
by Thomas Newhouse; published June 16, 2000, by

McFarland & Company McFarland & Company, Inc., is an American independent book publisher based in Jefferson, North Carolina, that specializes in academic and reference works, as well as general-interest adult nonfiction. Its president is Rhonda Herman. Its forme ...

(via

) Ellson was a

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

,What America Read: Taste, Class, and the Novel, 1920-1960
by Gordon Hutner; published November 1, 2009, by

University of North Carolina Press The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a university press that is part of the University of North Carolina. It was the first university press founded in the Southern United States. It is a member of the A ...

(via

)

recreational therapist Recreational therapy or therapeutic recreation (TR) is a systematic process that utilizes recreation (leisure) and other activities as interventions to address the assessed needs of individuals with illnesses and/or disabling conditions, as a mea ...

, and nurse's aide at

Bellevue Hospital Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States b ...

, 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.Encyclopedia of Pulp Fiction Writers
by Lee Server; published January 1, 2009, by

Infobase Publishing Infobase Publishing is an American publisher of reference book titles and textbooks geared towards the North American library, secondary school, and university-level curriculum markets. Infobase operates a number of prominent imprints, includin ...

(via

) As a result,

Nelson Algren Nelson Algren (born Nelson Ahlgren Abraham; March 28, 1909 – May 9, 1981) was an American writer. His 1949 novel ''The Man with the Golden Arm'' won the National Book Award and was adapted as the 1955 film of the same name. Algren articulated ...

described Ellson's work as "just straight

case studies A case study is an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case (or cases) within a real-world context. For example, case studies in medicine may focus on an individual patient or ailment; case studies in business might cover a particular ...

."Nelson Algren, The Art of Fiction No. 11
by Alston Anderson and

Terry Southern Terry Southern (May 1, 1924 – October 29, 1995) was an American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style. Part of the Paris postwar literary movement in the 1950s and a companion to ...

; in ''

the Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Phi ...

''; originally published Winter 1955; retrieved July 2, 2014 Frederic Wertham was an aficionado of Ellson's work, favorably reviewing Ellson's 1949 novel "Duke" in the ''

American Journal of Psychotherapy The ''American Journal of Psychotherapy'' is the official psychotherapy journal of the American Psychiatric Association. It began publishing in 1947. The Journal is published 4 times a year. Since 2001, it incorporates the ''Journal of Psychothe ...

'', and providing an introduction to Ellson's 1950 novel ''Tomboy'';Fredric Wertham and 'Tomboy'
by Steve Duin, at ''

the Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

''; published January 6, 2010; retrieved July 2, 2014 as well, Wertham subsequently cited ''Tomboy'' in the first chapter of his own 1954 ''

Seduction of the Innocent ''Seduction of the Innocent'' is a book by German-born American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, published in 1954, that warned that comic books were a negative form of popular literature and a serious cause of juvenile delinquency. The book was tak ...

''.Seduction of the Innocent
by

Fredric Wertham Fredric Wertham (; born Friedrich Ignatz Wertheimer, March 20, 1895 – November 18, 1981) was a German-American psychiatrist and author. Wertham had an early reputation as a progressive psychiatrist who treated poor black patients at his Lafargue ...

; published 1954; archived at

Scribd Scribd Inc. is an American e-book and audiobook subscription service that includes one million titles. Scribd hosts 60 million documents on its open publishing platform. The company was founded in 2007 by Trip Adler, Jared Friedman, and Tik ...

; retrieved July 2, 2014 Mike Shayne's Mystery Magazine published reprints of Ellson's short stories such as ''Walk Away Fast'' copyright 1956 by Renown Publications, Inc. in its October 1970 issue as well as publishing several of Ellson's original short stories from 1963 to 1981. Ellson's short fiction appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine from 1963 to 1983.

Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. Robert Bloch, the author of ''Psycho'', ...

cited 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''.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, 2014Harlan Ellison: The Edge of Forever
by Ellen Weil and Gary K. Wolfe, published 2002 by

Ohio State University Press The Ohio State University Press is the university press of Ohio State University. It was founded in 1957. The OSU Press has published approximately 1700 books since its inception. The current director is Tony Sanfilippo, who had previously wor ...

(via

) Ellison also stated that in the earliest days of his career as a writer, he was often mistaken for Ellson writing under a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

— 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.

Bibliography

* ''Duke'' (1949) * ''Tomboy'' (1950) – adapted by

Marcel Carné Marcel Albert Carné (; 18 August 1906 – 31 October 1996) was a French film director. A key figure in the poetic realism movement, Carné's best known films include ''Port of Shadows'' (1938), '' Le Jour Se Lève'' (1939), '' The Devil's Envoy ...

Wasteland Wasteland or waste land may refer to: * Desert or barren area * an uncultivated area of land, whether wooded or not, whether common land or not Art, entertainment, and media Comics * ''Wasteland'' (DC Comics), 1987–1989 anthology-style horror ...

* ''The Golden Spike'' (1952) * ''Rock'' (1953) * ''I'll Fix You'' (1956) * ''Tell Them Nothing'' (1956) * ''This Is It'' (1956) * ''Jailbait Street'' (1959) * ''A Killer's Kiss'' (1959) * ''Stairway to Nowhere'' (1959) * ''The Knife'' (1961) * ''Nest of Fear'' (1961) * ''Nightmare Street'' (1965) * ''Games'' (1967) * ''That Glover Woman'' (1967) * ''Blood on the Ivy'' (1971) * "hundreds of short stories" “Reefer Boy”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellson, Hal Pulp fiction writers 1910 births 1994 deaths 20th-century American writers 20th-century American male writers