Primo Levi: Prisoner, Survivor, Scientist

Catalog description

Primo Levi is a towering figure of Italian literature, whose career spans over four decades and crosses multiple genres and forms. Heir of a long-established Jewish household from Turin, Levi was deported to Auschwitz where he managed to survive thanks to his professional training as a chemist. Years later, he was able to tell his story in two of the most consequential memoirs about the Holocaust, life in the concentration camp and the long, painful journey back home. In the final instalment of this trilogy, he investigated the sense of guilt and shame of a society that has not been able to process the events of a not-so-distant past. Although the name of Levi is primarily associated with this part of his production, the legacy of the Italian writer is much wider. Repeatedly, Levi reflects on the dignity and the beauty of a passionate commitment to our job as an alternative to postmodern alienation; he explores the several challenges that advancements in technology create for mankind on a daily basis. In this class, we set to survey Levi’s multifaceted work with readings from Survival in Auschwitz, The Drowned and the Saved, The Periodic Table, The Six Days and Other Tales, and The Monkey’s Wrench. Secondary sources include selections from Angier, Gordon, Pugliese, and Farrell.