How Steel is Made (Includes CD)

Author: Ostrovsky
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-05-01
Features: Although How the Steel Was Tempered cannot be called an autobiographical novel by Nikolai Ostrovsky, the work is indeed heavily inspired by his own life experiences. Like the protagonist Paul Korchagin in the novel, Ostrovsky lost his education in childhood, worked as an apprentice and laborer, participated in socialist construction, and endured extremely harsh conditions while building railways. He also served as a Communist Youth League official and, in the end, became blind and paralyzed. However, Ostrovsky did not resign himself to his fate. He picked up a pen, overcame unimaginable difficulties, and finally wrote and published the world-shaking masterpiece How the Steel Was Tempered.
Parts I and II of How the Steel Was Tempered were published in 1932 and 1934, respectively. This novel depicts the journey of the Soviet youth of that generation after the October Revolution as they fought to defend and consolidate the Soviet government, restore the national economy, and resist domestic and foreign enemies as well as various hardships. The author successfully portrays the image of a proletarian revolutionary warrior—Paul Korchagin—who grew up in the storm of struggle. The novel follows the main plotline of Paul Korchagin's transformation from an ordinary worker's son into a proletarian revolutionary hero. It paints a broad historical panorama of Russia from the First World War, through the October Revolution and the Civil War, to the period of economic recovery. This monumental work, with its thrilling and moving storyline, celebrates the noble character and indomitable will of its protagonist, Paul, thereby educating hundreds of millions of young readers worldwide.