Out of This Furnace

Year of Publication
1941
Publication Type
Novel
Number of Pages or Episodes
413 p.
Language
English
Contributors Author: Thomas Bell
Publisher
Little, Brown, & Company
City
Boston
Genre
Keywords
Abstract
A semi-autobiographical family saga of three generations of an immigrant Slovak and Rusyn family—the Dobrejcaks—from 1881 to 1937 in the steel mills of Braddock and Homestead.
Notes
Settings are referred to by their historical names as follows: Carnegie Mellon University is Carnegie Technical Institute; Kennywood Park is Kenny's Grove. The novel arguably became the most memorable Pittsburgh Novel after 1976, when Professor David Demarest of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh Press reissued this long out-of-print working-class novel.
Author Biography
Thomas Bell (1903-61) was born and raised Adalbert Thomas Belejcak in Braddock, Allegheny County to immigrant parents. His father was a steelworker and bartender. At 15, Bell went to work in the mills and then became an electrician by trade. In 1922, Bell left Braddock for a brief stint as a merchant seaman, then settled in New York for a career in writing. He completed five novels, some adapted for Broadway and Hollywood, and a memoir about his struggle with cancer. He died in California and In the Midst of Life (1961) was published posthumously.
Time
1881-1937
Places
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