Product Description

Customer Reviews (4)

excellent
As an autobiography, this read very well. I would recommend it to anyone already interested in Primo Levi

Fulsome research of This Man's motivations and his times
Thomson's work is a wonderful read, well researched with telling detail and written in prose suitable to its subject. You can feel the struggle Primo endures to hack through the Auschwitz experience, his work as a chemist, his fathering,husbanding, literary aspirations and living in cramped circumstances within his mother's home. Highly recommended to the devotee of Levi's fascinating journey and written achievements. The research around the period, particularly the shakers and movers in northern Italian political and cultural life is enthralling with ample evidence from a host of surviving acquaintances. Levi's depressive tendencies are charted. His rise from obscurity to literary fame. His days in the chemical factory..it's all there, weighing in and shaping the artist that he was. Without overstating the issue, Thomson lays out the supreme irony of Levi's career with the Turin chemical industrial firm, its hazards, and his survival route by working with the industrialized death camp at Auschwitz.

buy the book
A really wonderful biography on a complex man. Kudos to the author. I'm impressed.

An exquisitely detailed look at a fascinating man
A highly enjoyable book. Thomson paints an extremely detailed picture but does not attempt to create a mythic figure out of Levi. He is presented in 3 dimensions with all his strengths and weaknesses. Extremely rich look at the assimilated Jewish community of Turin suddenly being cast as the enemy of the Fascist state. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
More than twenty years ago, the Italian chemist, writer and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi fell to his death from the stairwell of his apartment building in Turin. Within hours, a debate exploded as to whether his death was an accident or a suicide and, if the latter, how this might force us to reinterpret his legacy as a writer and "survivor." Many weighed in with thoughtful and sometimes provocative commentary, but the debate over his death has sometimes overshadowed the larger significance of his place as a thinker "after Auschwitz."

This volume contains essays that deal directly with Levi and his work; others tangentially use Levi's writings or ideas to explore larger issues in Holocaust studies, philosophy, theology, and the problem of representation. They are included here in the spirit that Levi described himself: proud of being "impure" and a "centaur," cognizant that asymmetry is the fundamental structure of organic life.

"I became a Jew in Auschwitz," Levi once wrote, comparing the concentration camp to a "university" of life. Yet he could also paradoxically admit, in an interview late in life, "There is Auschwitz, and so there cannot be God." Rather than seek to untanglethese contradictions, Levi embraced them. This volume seeks to embrace them as well. ... Read more

Product Description
Little-known personal and revealing interviews with "one of the most important and gifted writers of our time" (Italo Calvino). In a book John Leonard calls "remarkable" and Michael Ignatieff describes as "invaluable," The Voice of Memory collects thirty-six interviews with bestselling author Primo Levi—many of them completely new to English-speaking readers. This book reveals a varied and complex picture of the author of such masterpieces as Survival in Auschwitz, The Drowned and the Saved, and The Periodic Table. There is Levi the Holocaust witness, the writer, the chemist, the mountain climber, the intellectual, the political polemicist, the atheist, and the Jew. Hailed by David Denby as "one of the outstandingly beautiful and moving writers of our time," Levi emerges here in a rich, contradictory, and essentially human light. His status as perhaps the most important of the survivor-writers of the Holocaust is enhanced still further by his many voices speaking in this remarkable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

More than you've read before
The editors point out that talking - giving interviews, speaking in schools, etc. - was almost a third career for Levi, after his work in SIVA and as a writer.The interviews included in this collection show what a good talker he was.

Most important, perhaps, there is a good deal here that does not appear in Levi's better known works, and which rightfully cause us to think more deeply about the complexity of his thought and life.For example, his conclusion in _The Drowned and the Saved_ that "the worst survived; that is, the fittest; the best of all died," has become an archetype of Levi in his last years.Readers may be surprised to read that in 1986, as he was completing _Drowned and Saved_ , Levi also said: "To be a mensch was a factor in survival," although "not every survivor was a mensch."Fortunately, perhaps, Levi also said that year (in his interview with Philip Roth), "Please grant me the right to inconsistency."

In granting Levi the right to inconsistency we honor him most of all.No one described better than he how quickly human complexity becomes oversimplified.This book is a valuable antidote to the ways that has happened in the story most often told about Levi himself.

Interviews with one a great voice of conscience
Primo Levi is one of the great literary witnesses of the Shoah. He is also a remarkable literary figure, and the self- described centaur who is composed of a scientific, work, chemist side, and a literary, poetic side. These interviews in which he discusses the Shoah( The Holocaust) his experiences, and his witness, his writing, his relation to his Jewishness, his relation to many beloved writers of his enriches our sense of the man and his work. His calm reassuring moral voice is the voice of one who has seen much and been able to tell its story. At the end of the interviews there is a sense of weariness , and a sense of having said it all. There too is a feeling that the younger generation no longer can really sense what he is saying, as the younger generation could after the war. Levi is a truly poetic and deep soul, but exact as a scientist and a therefore seemingly a most reliable witness. His finding human dignity in simple work is another major theme of his work and life. And his modest, practical and realistic answers ( for instance to the question of why he did not distribute food found and made at the point of liberation to three thousand prisoners when he was with ten who ate the food and were kept alive by it) shows his awareness of his own human limitation and fundamental decency.
One caveat. The very leftist interviewers in the Jewish section seem to go out of their way to make Levi criticize Israel for its 1982 effort to stop terrorism coming at it from Lebanon. Levi is critical of Israel but only to a certain point, and does not fall into the trap of condemning the Jewish state. After all he knows what it is to be attacked as a Jew and he understands that the Jewish state is fighting for its survival.
All in all this is a wonderful set of interviews with one of the great voices of conscience of the twentieth century.

Astonishing, hopeful then crushing in its finality
Primo Levi{of Blessed memory], was one of the great writers of the past half century. Memoirs{survival at Auschwitz},fiction{the monkeys wrench,If not now, when] essayist[The Drowned and the saved, his magum opus} and Reawkenings, his description of life from the liberation of the camps until he finds his way back to his beloved Turin, Italy[where he lived ,save those years in the camps, all his life. A chemist by trade,amy believe his best work to be THe Periodic Table, whre he begins each "story" named after one of the elements. I have read all of Mr. levi, and he is one of the few, very very few, writers or people that I hold in awe.I have two earlier collection of interviews that he gave,though none carries the sheer inclusiveness of this collection.These interviews take place over a 26 year period,and are grouped into specific catergories.Part 1 is ENGLISH ENCOUNTERS,interviews in Englan, with English new agencies or with English writers. Part 2 isLIFE,interviews about Mr. levis life.Part 3 is BOOKS, interviews regarding Mr. levis published works.Part 4 is LITERATURE and WRITING,interviews regarding the art and craft.Part 5 is AUSCHWITZ and SURVIVAL,a group of interviews and one essay, the preface to IF THIS IS A MAN, what is my favoritenon fiction among Mr levis work. Part 6 isJUDAISM and ISRAEL,a series of thoughtful,painful hopeful interviews on the subject,perhaps all the more relevant and poignant due to the recent neverending hatred going on there on both sides.How i wish to hear Mr levi's calm gentle words on the current state of things. The astonishing thing that I carried from these interviews was Mr Levis lack of bitterness or rancor. The coda, of course is that Mr levi commited suicide in 1987,at last a victim to the HOLOCAUST which he so valiantly fought to memory. At lifes end, he found himself forgetting details of his life{early alzheimers?} and was forgetting his time in the camps,was forced to read and re-read to remember what he had just read. In the drowned and the saved,he speaks of the growing movement to de sacralize the holocaust, to downplay its uniqueness, and how the guards at the capms would taunt him by tellighim"no one will believe you, or remember." Thanks to people like Primo Levi, that will not happen. A brillaint absolutely essential book by a good and great man.HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION ... Read more

Product Description
The landmark biography of the Italian writer and Holocaust survivor who helped shape our understanding of humanity.

Myriam Anissimov's major biography of Primo Levi delves deeply into the life and mind of this controversial writer, philosopher, and Holocaust witness, exploring the complex nature of a man who was both a strong-spirited survivor and a sufferer of severe bouts of depression, a man who felt misunderstood. His experiences at Auschwitz resulted in some of this century's most remarkable literature, which includes The Periodic Table and Survival at Auschwitz. He was haunted not only by his own experiences, but by the fear that future generations would inevitably forget and even deny the Holocaust. On April 11, 1987, Levi committed suicide, throwing himself down the staircase of the building where he was born.

By bringing Levi's life into focus with material gathered from exhaustive research, interviews with his friends and relatives, and numerous unpublished texts and testimonies, Anissimov's biography is an invaluable contribution to Holocaust scholarship and a crucial companion to the writings of this tortured genius.

"Myriam Anissimov's biography of Primo Levi is masterfully evocative and will serve as a companion volume to his own books. It helps explain their depth and greatness."-- Elie Wiesel

"An important event. . . . a serious, lively, and at times fervently told story that is always sympathetic to Levi's shy personality and restrained tone."-- front page, The New York Times Book ReviewAmazon.com Review
In 1987, the literary world was shocked when the Italianwriter and chemist Primo Levi died after falling down the stairs inthe very home where he had been born 78 years earlier. The reason hisdeath caused such surprise was the widely held suspicion that it wassuicide--Levi, a man who had lived through 18 tortured months inAuschwitz, was known as a survivor.

What kept him alive through the Holocaust was an intense yearning totell the world exactly what had happened, and when the war was over heimmediately began writing. His books about the horrors he had livedthrough include If ThisIs a Man and the brilliant The PeriodicTable. Levi also lectured, gave interviews, and led tours toAuschwitz, yet he always wondered if he had done enough. Once,pointing to the number tattooed on his arm, he said, "That is mydisease." His tombstone in Turin bears his name; his dates of birthand death; and his number, 174517.

Myriam Anissimov, a Paris-based writer and journalist, painstakinglyrecorded Levi's life using hitherto unpublished letters and poems. Shealso consulted archives and interviewed Levi's colleagues andfriends. Levi believed writers should be concise and clear, avoidingembellishments and convolutions, and that's exactly what Anissimov hasaccomplished. Her work will prove to be an invaluable resource forscholars and researchers, but readers who desire some insight intoLevi's personality may be disappointed. His marriage is dealt with injust a few paragraphs and there's barely a mention of his children orany other significant relationships in his life. After reading this450-page book, readers will have gained an excellent understanding ofLevi's work, but little of him. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Very useful companion to Levi's works
Readers of Levi's works will find this bio complements the works.Entering Auschwitz in his early twenties - on the brink of life itself, love, work, education, friendship - young Primo through his works of literature, his school visits, his articles, his interviews, bore witness to the efficient workings of the German business and military machine as it worked its way through murdering millions of undesirables, mainly people of the Jewish faith.One of the interesting contradictions in Levi's world was his belief in the power of the scientific method on the one hand, which governed his approach to literature, and his love of the inefficiencies and carelessness of the Russian liberators of the death camps, on the other.In the former, it was the Germans very use of science and methodical organization that made it so successful in killing then cremating so many so efficiently.In the latter, it was the absence of method that he found so endearing, so human.If his goal was to bear witness, he has achieved that goal, and his legacy will live forever. No matter how many films we see, or pictures of the dead, or documentaries, it will be through literature that the real legacy of Naziism will be immortalized and it is mainly to this chemist, this great writer, that we owe thanks, a writer who manages to reach the soul of the reader.
His other great legacy will be his respect for the accurate and most effective use of language which he was passionate about and which he sees as being directly connected to the search for "truth" in his work as a scientist (chemist). It is this passion which connects him directly to such writers as George Orwell. Undoubtedly, the reader leaves Levi's works and this biography with a a greater, perhaps lasting, sensitivity to words, words such as ARBEIT MACHT FREI (work sets free) which was the gateway motto of Auschwitz death camps, but which, ironically,Levi believed and practiced throughout his life.
Ms Anissimov's work makes excellent reading and she has done a great service in bringing us closer to this fine human.

"The aims of life are the best defense against death." Levi
Until Myriam Anissimov published this comprehensive biography of Primo Levi in 1998, the world knew him primarily through his own writings. He was born into an assimilated middle-class Jewish family in Turin, Italy, in 1919. His people were not observant Jews, and Levi, apparently, knew little about "Jewishness" until Mussolini's anti-Semitic policy taught him something about his heritage. His father, Casare, was an electrical engineer and an avid reader. Primo learned from him that the humanities and the sciences need not be separate worlds.

Trained as a chemist, he was arrested during the Second World War as a member of the anti-Fascist resistance and deported to the Monowitz concentration camp, part of the Auschwitz complex in 1944. Badly beaten and half-starved, Levi was determined to spend his time mentally recording his irrational world "with the curiosity of the naturalist." His background in chemistry actually saved his life, Levi was to acknowledge later. After being transferred to work in the camp laboratory his situation improved dramatically. Anissimov's account of the final days at Auschwitz - when Levi, suffering from scarlet fever, managed to forage, with a few comrades, through a semi-dismantled concentration camp in the freezing cold - is the focal point of her book. Her research is meticulous. Levi survived 11 months as slave laborer 174517 until the liberation of what he called "that hideous distortion of humanity." Seven months after the war, he was still a refugee in Russia, trying to make his way home.

When he returned to Turin, to the same apartment where he had always lived, he felt a terrible need to bear witness. He had watched as fellow inmates were stripped of their essential selves before they died in the flesh. His powerful memoirs, works of fiction and poetry describe his experience in the death camp and his later travels in Eastern Europe. Levi wrote. "And I felt like Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, who waylays on the street the wedding guests going to the feast, inflicting on them the story of his misfortune." The civilized world did not seem to care what he had to say, however. No large publisher would accept his powerful manuscript, "Survival in Auschwitz." Anissimov reports that the book received a few positive reviews but was "distributed rather than sold."

For the last forty years of his life Levi devoted himself to understanding why he was not killed in the concentration camp. "The worst survived, that is, the fittest; the best all died," he said. He spent much of his time writing about literature, astronomy, philosophy, the wonders of the natural life and the dignity of manual labor. Married with two children, he was a lifelong agnostic, and was described by some coreligionists as a stranger to Jewish culture. He worked at his profession, as a research chemist and factory manager, until his retirement. Plagued by survivor's guilt, and inner wounds, as well as the coverage the media was giving to Holocaust deniers, Levi, the most gentle of men, died in Turin in April 1987, an apparent suicide.

This biography delves deeply into the life and mind of the man who was a philosophical student of life. Ms. Anissimov, a French journalist and novelist, explores the complex nature of the man, who was at once such a vital force, a real survivor in many senses, and the man prone to dark moods, disillusionment and bouts of severe depression. She writes, with riveting detail, about Levi's year in Auschwitz, drawing on his autobiographical accounts and those of other survivors. Hers was the supremely difficult task of attempting to do what Levi himself said he could not. He was not able to show how the survivor and the scientist, separately and together, perceived the world. "Primo Levi: Tragedy of an Optimist" is based primarily on Ms. Anissimov's reading of Levi's work, her correspondence or interviews with men and women associated with him, and interviews and essays on him by others. This painstaking journalistic endeavor is concise and clear, which is what Mr. Levi believed his own work should be - "avoiding embellishments and convolutions." She has accomplished all this and more. I have read that many are disappointed that this biography did not delve more into Levi's personality, his psyche. I understand that his wife would not be interviewed. Nor would she release intimate personal papers. When close family members do not cooperate, and first-hand information is not available, it is almost impossible to form an accurate analysis of someone's inner complexities.

I was deeply moved by this biography. There are flaws here, but overall it presents an extraordinary portrait of a great man. His writings were fundamental in shaping many people's understanding of what the Holocaust meant when he originally wrote about it, and what it means today, in the context of the 21st century. Some people, devastated by the manner in which he died, say that the Holocaust finally killed him. I do not believe this. Primo Levi fought almost all his life to live. He struggled to enjoy life and the world around him, and to bear witness, an enormous responsibility for anyone. He fought courageously for forty plus years. I respect him greatly for that, and for allowing us all to know him a little bit.
JANA

A superb biography and contribution to Holocaust studies.
Primo Levi: Tragedy Of An Optimist is a major biography which delvesdeeply into the life, mind and work of an influential writer, philosopher,and Holocaust witness. Drawing from exhaustive research, interviews withfriends and relatives, as well as numerous unpublished texts andtestimonies, biographer Myriam Anissimov explores the complex nature of amost singular, shy, intelligent, and diffident man who was both astrong-spirited survivor and a sufferer of depression, a man who feltmisunderstood, certain that future generations would inevitably forget, andeven deny, that the Holocaust happened. Indeed, on April 11, 1987, hisself-deprecating depression was to lead him to suicide by throwing himselfdown the staircase of the building in which he was born. Primo Levi is asuperbly presented biography and an important, singular contribution toHolocaust studies.

Spotty insights but helpful contexts
As many reviewers have noted, this English translation whittles down the original French two-volume work, so perhaps an English-language reader's perspective is likewise narrowed; perhaps the publisher and translator ofthe English version are also responsible for the admittedly scattershotcoverage given by Anissimov to Primo Levi's inner complexity. Again, Leviwas certainly not the most forthcoming of men, even as he was a writer mostfamous for his autobiographical accounts. His wife and children receivelittle more than fleeting mention in the hundreds of closely-printed pages,and inevitably her treatment serves sometimes more as a commentary on theworks of Levi himself than a fresh work. How difficult it must be, afterall, to write the biography of an autobiographer! Yet, having pointed outsome faults, this biography is worthwhile for its picture of thePiedmontese Jewish community into which Levi was born and returned to; itsexplanations of how Fascist Italy differed from Nazi Germany in itsanti-Semitic actions; and most of all how the inner workings of thelager--Auschwitz-Birkenau--played out in Levi's classic accounts as well asthe larger context of the privations endured by many of his fellow inmates.Here, the two lengthy chapters on the camp are astoundingly detailed andintimately rendered, and would make an ideal follow-up to readers who haveread Levi's own descriptions, for Anissimov is alert to what Levi says andwhat he leaves out. Apparently the child of refugees herself, thesensitivity and acumen with which Anissimov describes how and why Levi gavethe famous accounts for which he is justly famed makes herbiography--especially in these two long chapters which themselves comprisealmost a monograph--necessary for those who have first read Levi's ownworks. Her book will not tell you much new about the content of theseworks, but you will understand better why they were written when in hiscareer, and why such a reticent man remained so in his own life while hisbooks spoke for--only some part--of the pain and hope he carried within andguarded carefully.

A disappointing account of a beloved writer.
I bought this book with great expecations--partly on the strength of Victor Brombert's NYT review and partly because I was midway through the wonderful Periodic Table when the biography came out. My hopes were disappointed--big time. The problem is, the writer has collected a lot of details, only to be confronted with the necessity of doing something with the details. She was not up to the task. In many cases, information is put forth without any attempt to integrate it into Levi's life story. The reader asks, What does this have to do with Levi? How did it have an impact? How should we interpret the information--should we interpret it at all? Alas, one senses that the author dug up some fact or other and said, well, now I'm going to cram it into my book. You figure it out, reader. Another problem with the author's treatment of detail is her very annoying repetition of facts. Sometimes the language is close to verbatim in different places throughout the book. Levi's books are constantly being published and then, a few pages later, published again (and I'm not talking about different translations). A third problem is that much of the information seems to have been gleaned from Levi's published books. And yet there are no new interpretive glosses that add anything to what Levi himself wrote. Finally, as the Amazon review notes, Levi the man does not emerge from the pages. If you want to know about Levi, stick with Survival in Auschwitz, the Periodic Table, and his other works. Wait for a better biography than this one. ... Read more

Product Description
Primo Levi, one of the most admired of Holocaust writers and survivors, was the author of a rich body of work, including memoirs and reflections on Auschwitz and also poetry, science fiction, historical fiction and a wide range of essays. This Companion brings together leading specialists and young scholars in the fields of Holocaust studies, Italian literature and language, and literature and science, to offer an accessible introduction to the work of this major writer of the twentieth century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A needed edition to the Cambridge classics
After having read this masterpiece, I'm glad to say that it keeps with the tradition of the Cambridge publications - an absolute must-have. I feel that all of the contributions are well placed, necessary, and insightful. Each of the contributors have a reverence for and equally passionate disposition to Levi's message and experience. Thank you for this book.

overallgood, apart from the Zaia contribution which was out of place
It was a good book, keeping up with the Cambridge tradition, I found the contribution by Zaia Alexander the least insightful and it would be least missed if it were taken out ... Read more

Product Description
This book explores the extraordinary depth of Levi the ethical writer across his entire oeuvre, by way of thirteen so-called "ordinary virtues"--the ways and means Levi forges for practically and compassionately engaging with the world. It draws on a wide range of recent thinking about Holocaust literature and the general relationship between literature and ethics. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Homer Breaks It Down
Professor Homer breaks down many of Primo Levi's works and makes it quite simple to understand each work's significance to Primo Levi's views on survival in "real-life". Definitely the proper choice for anybody interested in previewing or reviewing Primo Levi's work; however, also significant for those looking for more insight into their already well developed understanding of Levi. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

He reflecting us
Primo Levi, Italian Jew, survivor of Auschwitz, author of "The Periodic Table" (21 stories each connected by a chemical element to tale), died at the age of 68. The official record has it that his fall from his three-storied apartment was a suicide. Some of his friends believed he killed himself others were convinced that he had already died 40 years before in Auschwitz. His life and death are relevant to those who enjoy his written work because they were pieces that aligned with the stories he wrote and the thoughts that he mused in his essays. Primo Levi was a writer whose thoughts drill into the deepest depths of intellectual darkness to, as he described his own approach in "Translating Kafka" (one of the essays in The Mirror Maker) to light. Yet somehow, reading his stories and essays, we might find it difficult to separate the emotions that drove him this way and that from the clarity of his analysis of life. His was a difficult mind to access and comprehend, but he was a writer of clarity and brilliance. It is this kind of admixture that makes writers like Primo Levi so fascinating. The stories and essays in "The Mirror Maker" were all very short, very clear and scarily thought provoking. My favourite essays from this collection were "Translating Kafka" and "Bacteria Roulette", and of the stories, "They were made to be Together" and "Through the Walls". The reader will find his work a mirror reflecting aspects of Primo Levi's life as well as his own; and we should understand that the paths life has for each of us are more myriad than the Cretan Labyrinths of the Minotaur. We must not only feel our way out but also think our way out. After all, as the author wrote (in "The Moon and the Man") that man is strong because "of the many weapons nature offered the animals, he opted for the brain".

fun read
hilariously insightful; primo levi doesn't usually strike across as a fantasy writer, nonetheless, his un-apologetic personality comes through these intricate stories, written to reflect various avenue in the nature of human beings. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
These essays examine how Primo Levi has influenced the fields of philosophy, politics, and ethics, offering provocative comparisons with Dante, Giorgio Agamben, Franz Kafka, Emmanuel Levinas, Viktor Frankl, and Elie Wiesel. Topics include Levi's anti-fascism; the influence of Judaism on his thinking and writing; Levi's poetry and linguistics; the problem of memory and representation; the concept of the "gray zone"; and the controversy surrounding Levi's death. A unique perspective on the life and work of a writer who powerfully reminds us of what transpired in the extermination camps of Europe and what it means to be human after Auschwitz.
... Read more

Product Description
A record of the dialogue which took place between the Italian writer Primo Levi and eminent physicist Tulio Regge. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more