Richard Hall (November 26, 1926 – October 29, 1992), sometimes credited as Richard Walter Hall, was an American novelist, playwright and short story writer.

Background

He was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

in 1926 as Richard Walter Hirshfeld to

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

parents, who later changed the family's name to Hall after experiencing an

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Ant ...

incident.Claude J. Summers, "Hall, Richard" in ''glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture''. 2002. Raised in

Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...

, Hall served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, and was educated at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

."Richard W. Hall, 65, an Author Who Specialized in Gay Themes"
''

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 ...

'', November 5, 1992. He worked in advertising and public relations, and taught at Inter American University in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

in the 1970s.

Writing career

His first novel, ''The Butterscotch Prince'', was published in 1975. As a book critic and essayist, he contributed to publications including ''

'', ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pap ...

'', ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'' and ''

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * ''The Advocate'' (LGBT magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States *'' The Harvard Advocate'', a literary magaz ...

''. He was the first openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

critic ever admitted to the

National Book Critics Circle The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American nonprofit organization ( 501(c)(3)) with more than 700 members. It is the professional association of American book review editors and critics, known primarily for the National Book Critics C ...

. His other published books included the short story collections ''Couplings'' (1981), ''Letter from a Great Uncle'' (1985) and ''Fidelities'' (1992), the novel ''Family Fictions'' (1991) and ''Three Plays for a Gay Theater'' (1983), a compilation of his stage plays ''Happy Birthday Daddy'', ''Love Match'' and ''Prisoner of Love''. He died on October 29, 1992, in New York City, of AIDS-related causes. He was predeceased in 1989 by his longtime partner Arthur Marceau.

Legacy

He posthumously won a

Gaylactic Spectrum Award The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards are given to works of science fiction, fantasy and horror that explore LGBT ( lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) topics in a positive way. Established in 1998, the awards were initially presented by the Gaylacti ...

in 2005 for "Country People", a supernatural-themed short story originally from ''Fidelities'' which was republished in the 2004 anthology ''Shadows of the Night'' and adapted to a short film in 2019. ''Couplings'' was the subject of an essay by Jonathan Harper in the 2010 non-fiction anthology '' The Lost Library: Gay Fiction Rediscovered''."The Lost Library: Gay Fiction Rediscovered Edited by Tom Cardamone". ''

The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide ''The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide'' (formerly ''The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review'') is a bimonthly, nationally distributed magazine of history, culture, and politics for LGBT people and their allies who are interested in the gamut of social, ...

'', May 4, 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Richard 1926 births 1992 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male novelists American male short story writers American short story writers American male dramatists and playwrights American literary critics Writers from New York City People from Westchester County, New York Harvard University alumni New York University alumni American LGBT novelists Gay dramatists and playwrights LGBT Jews Gay novelists Jewish American novelists Jewish American short story writers Jewish American dramatists and playwrights AIDS-related deaths in New York (state) American male essayists 20th-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) 20th-century American essayists United States Army personnel of World War II 20th-century American Jews 20th-century LGBT people