In 1936, a young author named Pietro di Donato wrote "Christ in Concrete," a short story that was published in Esquire in March of 1937 and was later selected for inclusion in the O'Brien's Best Short Stories for 1938. At the time, di Donato was a bricklayer, and had been since the age of twelve. The largely autobiographical short story tells of the death of Geremio di Alba, a bricklayer and father of twelve-year-old Paul. This short story received such positive reviews that Esquire released it as a small book, with an introduction by one of its editors, Arnold Gingrich, stating that di Donato "is a writer of immense promise. And, on this story alone, we consider him, already, a writer of distinguished performance" (7-10). This short story became the first chapter of the novel Christ in Concrete. Christ in Concrete was published in 1939, received more fine reviews, and was eventually chosen as a Main Selection over John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath by the Book-of-the-Month Club.

The overnight success of this novel is interesting for two reasons. One, it gave Christ in Concrete and di Donato much critical acclaim . With its impressionistic writing style and naturalistic themes, Christ in Concrete made its mark on the literary scene immediately.

Second, and perhaps somewhat unfortunately, it set a precedent for di Donato that he could never live up to for the rest of his literary career. In a later interview, di Donato explained the difficulties behind his sudden success: "Christ in Concrete was the easiest thing that I ever wrote and the best thing I ever wrote," di Donato said, adding that "once [an author] becomes known and becomes a success, that's a different story. Then he has the success hanging over his head" (Diomede 102). Christ in Concrete was such a triumph, and being di Donato's first novel, much was expected of him in the future.

When his second novel This Woman was published nineteen years later in 1958, di Donato was all but forgotten. In those twenty years, di Donato toured in support of Christ in Concrete, started his own construction business, and spent money carelessly on material items and women. Christ in Concrete was made into a 1949 film called Give Us This Day, which was critically acclaimed overseas but was never released in the United States because its director, Edward Dmytryk, was one of the blacklisted "Hollywood 10," a group banned for suspected Communist ties.

Di Donato became a victim of the saying "out of sight, out of mind" in 1959. This Woman received harshly negative reviews, and the brilliance of di Donato's Christ in Concrete was forgotten - or dismissed - almost immediately. Di Donato's strongest contribution to American literature, Christ in Concrete, was considered a stroke of luck, a flash of genius by an ordinary man. He was no longer a "writer of immense promise."

Two events sparked a newfound interest in di Donato's life and literature. Mario Puzo's publication of The Godfather in 1969 rekindled interest in the Italian American experience and in part reminded the literary world of di Donato. Referring to Puzo, Fred Gardaphe tells us that "not since the publication of Pietro di Donato's Christ in Concrete had an American author of Italian descent been thrust into the national spotlight on such a grand scale" (Italian Signs 88). Puzo's entrance into the literary world was almost as grandiose as di Donato's, the only difference being that Puzo was older when his acclaimed novel was published, and The Godfather was actually his third published novel. Because of his maturity and experience, Puzo was able to handle the immediate fame of his novel better than di Donato. The film adaptations of Puzo's novels, unlike the adaptation of di Donato's Christ in Concrete, only made interest in Mario Puzo grow.

More recently, in 1991, one of di Donato's nonfiction novels, The Immigrant Saint: The Life of Mother Cabrini, was reprinted by St. Martin's Press. The book is based on a true story, but di Donato takes artistic and fictional liberties with it, thus earning the title of nonfiction novel. Interest in di Donato's literature increased, partly due to the fact that Mother Cabrini was the first U.S. citizen to attain sainthood. Yet di Donato has still not been able to achieve the status of a necessary author, one whose works are frequented in the American literary canon.

This study will argue that di Donato's fiction, which includes his novels Christ in Concrete, This Woman, and Three Circles of Light, should be considered important reading material for any student of American literature. The study is divided into two main sections. The first deals with di Donato's innovative writing style, focusing on Christ in Concrete and showing its stylistic powers through its use of dialogue and prose. The second section evaluates the merits of both This Woman and Three Circles of Light, and examines why these two books do not reach the artistic height that Christ in Concrete accomplished. As a whole, this study seeks to establish di Donato as an important writer of the Italian American experience, and thus an important writer of American literature.