Books
by Primo Levi
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If This is a Man & The Truce |
In these two books, published together, Levi tells of his time in Auschwitz and his journey back to Turin. The first, despite its appalling subject, is not dispiriting. What emerges is a sense of dignity, fought for and maintained against all the odds. In the second, his sense of hope and renewal burst forth on every page. He tells his story not with anger or recrimination but with thoughtful, serenely beautiful prose.
(Denise Lewis - bwl 60 Spring 2011) |
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The Periodic Table |
A chemist by training, Levy's inspiration for these 21 stories was the Periodic Table,
an element being the fulcrum of each. There is chemistry here, quite a lot, but so much more, as he traces the different periods of his life and those who he encountered from childhood in Fascist Italy to the Holocaust, Auschwitz and survival. Finally there is Carbon, which endlessly renews itself - surely a metaphor for Levi's own humanity and belief in life.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 79 Winter 2016) |
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