SOURCE: Esposito, Michael D. “Pietro di Donato Reevaluated.” Italian Americana 6, no. 2 (spring-summer 1980): 179-92.

In the following essay, Esposito discusses di Donato's works within the context of Italian American life and experience, reassessing the significance of his works to immigrant Americana.

Although Pietro di Donato's Christ in Concrete (1939) was one of the earliest novels treating the life of America's Italian immigrants, both it and the rest of di Donato's fiction have attracted little critical attention by scholars and critics whose interest lies outside the sphere of ethnic and immigrant literature. Before discussing his neglect, I feel it is appropriate to refresh the reader's memory regarding the events surrounding di Donato's literary ascent.

An event that perhaps drastically changed Pietro di Donato's life and significantly shaped the radical attitudes inherent in Christ in Concrete occurred four days prior to his twelfth birthday. On Good Friday, March 30, 1923, di Donato's father, a...