''East Liberty'' is a

coming-of-age novel In literary criticism, a ''Bildungsroman'' (, plural ''Bildungsromane'', ) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood ( coming of age), in which character change is imp ...

by the American writer

Joseph Bathanti Joseph Bathanti (born July 20, 1953, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American poet, novelist and professor. He was named by Governor Bev Perdue as the seventh North Carolina Poet Laureate, 2012–2014. Biography Early life and education Bathanti ...

. Set in the 1950s and 1960s in the

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

neighborhood of East Liberty, it tells the story of Bobby Renzo, who is raised by his unwed mother and who feels called to the Roman Catholic priesthood.

References

2001 American novels Italian-American culture in Pittsburgh Italian-American novels Novels set in Pittsburgh Fiction set in the 1950s Fiction set in the 1960s American bildungsromans Catholic novels 2001 debut novels {{2000s-bildungsroman-stub

See also

References