Edward Lewis Wallant (1926-1962), penned three novels in addition to The Pawnbroker before his death at the age of 36: The Human Season, The Tenants of Moonbloom, and The Children at the Gate. His brief career, however, inspired David R. Mesher to write in the Dictionary of Literary Biography that Wallant was "one of the most important figures among postwar Jewish writers in the United States."