The Character Elaine from Seinfeld is based on Monica Yates, daughter of the author Richard Yates, whom Larry David had dated prior to making the show. Elaine's father is portrayed as a drunk, surley "great but neglected novelest" in the episode titled "The Jacket". Blake Bailey, Yates' Biographer (A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates) just referred to this in an interview yesterday (scroll to 5:35): http://www.yourpublicmedia.org/node/26716