Bernard Wolfe

Born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1915, Bernard Wolfe was an American writer whose career reached across novels, essays, journalism, and screen work. He studied at Yale, and accounts of his early life describe an unusually varied path before literary fame, including time in the Merchant Marine and political work connected with Leon Trotsky.

Wolfe is most often remembered for Limbo (published in 1952, later also issued as Limbo '90), a darkly comic science-fiction novel that helped secure his place in the genre. He also wrote beyond science fiction, bringing a satirical edge to subjects ranging from politics to popular culture, and built a reputation as a witty, skeptical observer of modern life.

He died in California in 1985. Although he never became a household name, his fiction has continued to attract readers interested in mid-century American writing that is smart, strange, and hard to neatly categorize.