Albert Halper Biography
(1904–84), Union Square, U.S.A., On the Shore, The Foundry
American novelist and short-story writer, born in Chicago. Halper was one of the proletarian realists and naturalists who emerged in the USA in the early 1930s. Union Square (1933) is a sociological cross-section of American society which shows some indebtedness to works such as John Dos Passos's U.S.A. Many of his works are autobiographical in nature, notably On the Shore (1934), The Foundry (1934), Sons of the Fathers (1940), and The Golden Watch (1953). This is Chicago (1952) is an anthology of Chicago stories, while Atlantic Avenue (1956) moves from Halper's usual Chicago setting to the violent world of the Brooklyn and New York waterfronts. As with many of his left-wing contemporaries Halper's writings found a large audience abroad, particularly in the Soviet Union, and were translated into a number of languages. See also Proletarian Literature In The USA.
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Literature Reference: American Literature, English Literature, Classics & Modern FictionEncyclopedia of Literature: Bernard Gutteridge Biography to Hartshill Warwickshire