How the Steel Was Tempered

Nikolai Ostrovsky’s literary masterpiece, How the Steel Was Tempered, is a magnificent example of a socialist realist novel, and one of the best-selling and celebrated novels of all time. A fictionalized autobiography of Ostrovsky's life whose first part was originally serialized in 1932, the novel tells the story of the young Pavel Korchagin as he comes of age in times of revolution and war. The story follows the young Pavel from his modest beginnings as a rebellious boy in a provincial town, through his battles with poverty and illness, to his heroic participation in the Russian Revolution and Civil War, and thereafter his dedication to socialist construction. A winner of the prestigious Order of Lenin, Ostrovsky's novel remains a triumph for the cause of socialism, for socialist literature, and for socialist realism. This edition compiles both parts of the novel into one volume for the first time. It also includes all the original illustrations, a character index, and a new, original foreword that introduces key concepts and contextualizes the work.