Primo Levi

I hope the reader will be indulgent toward the extreme dispersion of themes, tones, and angles of approach that he will find in this collection. My justification is: the 'pieces' are situated in an arc of time that is close to a quarter of a century, the time of my almost total fidelity to LA STAMPA: and in twenty-five years many things change, inside us and around us. Furthermore, they are conditioned by my intrinsic libertinage, in part willed, in part due to the itinerary fate has reserved for me; I've drunk at various founts and breathed different airs, some salutary, others quite polluted . . .I'm a normal man with a good memory who fell into a maelstrom and got out of it more by luck than by virtue, and who from that time on has preserved a certain curiosity about maelstroms large and small, metaphorical and actual.From Primo Levi's introduction to The Mirror Maker, his eloquent, witty and wise collection of short stories and essays.

At the start of 1987, Primo Levi took part in a remarkable series of conversations about his early life with a friend and fellow writer, Giovanni Tesio. This book is the result of those meetings, originally intended to be the basis for an authorized biography and published here in English for the first time. In a densely packed dialogue, Levi responds to Tesio’s tactful and never too insistent questions with a watchful readiness and candour, breaking through the reserve of his public persona to allow a more intimate self to emerge. Following the thread of memory, he lucidly discusses his family, his childhood, his education during the Fascist period, his adolescent friendships, his reading, his shyness and his passion for mountaineering, and recounts his wartime experience as a partisan and the terrible price it exacted from him and his comrades. Though we glimpse his later life as a writer, the story breaks off just before his deportation to Auschwitz owing to his sudden death. In The Last Interview, Levi the man, the witness, the chemist and the writer all unite to offer us a story which is also a window onto history. These conversations shed new light on Levi’s life and will appeal to the many readers of this most eloquent witness to the horrors of the Holocaust.

At the start of 1987, Primo Levi took part in a remarkable series of conversations about his early life with a friend and fellow writer, Giovanni Tesio. This book is the result of those meetings, originally intended to be the basis for an authorized biography and published here in English for the first time. In a densely packed dialogue, Levi responds to Tesio’s tactful and never too insistent questions with a watchful readiness and candour, breaking through the reserve of his public persona to allow a more intimate self to emerge. Following the thread of memory, he lucidly discusses his family, his childhood, his education during the Fascist period, his adolescent friendships, his reading, his shyness and his passion for mountaineering, and recounts his wartime experience as a partisan and the terrible price it exacted from him and his comrades. Though we glimpse his later life as a writer, the story breaks off just before his deportation to Auschwitz owing to his sudden death. In The Last Interview, Levi the man, the witness, the chemist and the writer all unite to offer us a story which is also a window onto history. These conversations shed new light on Levi’s life and will appeal to the many readers of this most eloquent witness to the horrors of the Holocaust.

Ny och utvidgad utgåva av Samtal med Primo Levi.Detta säger Primo Levi om sitt behov av att skriva och vittna:"Jag började skriva därför att jag kände ett behov av att skriva. Om ni ber mig gå vidare och redogöra för varifrån det behovet härrör kan jag inte svara. Jag hade en känsla av att skrivakten för mig var en motsvarighet till att lägga mig på Freuds soffa. Jag kände ett så trängande behov av att berätta att jag berättade högt för mig själv. Då, i lägret, hade jag en ofta återkommande dröm: jag drömde att jag kom hem och på nytt träffade mina anhöriga, att jag berättade och att ingen lyssnade. Den jag har framför mig hör inte på mig, vänder sig om och går. I lägret berättade jag den drömmen för mina vänner och de sa: 'Det händer oss också.'"Ferdinando Camons samtal med Primo Levi fördes under Levis sista levnadår och berör frågor om livet efter koncen­trationslägren, men även Israels tillbliv­else, Tyskland idag, varför skrivandet är nödvändigt och vittnandets möjlighet. Denna utgåva är försedd med en ny introduktion av Camon och ett efterord av Daniel Pedersen.

In 1945, soon after the liberation of Auschwitz, Soviet authorities in control of the Kattowitz (Katowice) camp in Poland asked Primo Levi and his fellow captive Leonardo De Benedetti to compile a detailed report on the sanitary conditions they witnessed in Auschwitz. The result was an extraordinary testimony and one of the first accounts of the extermination camps ever written. Their report, published in a medical journal in 1946, marked the beginnings of Levi’s life-long work as writer, analyst and witness. In the subsequent four decades, Levi never ceased to recount his experiences in Auschwitz in a wide variety of texts, many of which are assembled together here for the first time, alongside other testimony from De Benedetti. From early research into the fate of their companions to the deposition written for Eichmann’s trial, Auschwitz Testimonies is a rich mosaic of documents, memories and critical reflections of great historic and human value. Underpinned by his characteristically clear language, rigorous method and deep psychological insight, this collection of testimonies, reports and analyses reaffirms Primo Levi’s position as one of the most important chroniclers of the Holocaust.

In 1945, soon after the liberation of Auschwitz, Soviet authorities in control of the Kattowitz (Katowice) camp in Poland asked Primo Levi and his fellow captive Leonardo De Benedetti to compile a detailed report on the sanitary conditions they witnessed in Auschwitz. The result was an extraordinary testimony and one of the first accounts of the extermination camps ever written. Their report, published in a medical journal in 1946, marked the beginnings of Levi’s life-long work as writer, analyst and witness. In the subsequent four decades, Levi never ceased to recount his experiences in Auschwitz in a wide variety of texts, many of which are assembled together here for the first time, alongside other testimony from De Benedetti. From early research into the fate of their companions to the deposition written for Eichmann’s trial, Auschwitz Testimonies is a rich mosaic of documents, memories and critical reflections of great historic and human value. Underpinned by his characteristically clear language, rigorous method and deep psychological insight, this collection of testimonies, reports and analyses reaffirms Primo Levi’s position as one of the most important chroniclers of the Holocaust.

»En lärobok om livet. Fantastisk litteratur.« | Mattias Berg, P1 Kultur»Primo Levi, den omsorgsfulle kemisten, blir den omsorgsfulle byggaren av hållbara berättelser med samma känsla för det falska tonfallet i en mening som för den felande komponenten i en leverans av färg.« | Göran Rosenberg, Expressen Kultur»Alla berättelserna i Periodiska systemet lever av charm och skärpa, i blixtsnabba kast mellan det burleska och det avslöjande. Som i allt Primo Levi har skrivit handlar det ytterst om konsten att vara människa.« |Ulrika Knutsson, Göteborgsposten»Den bästa bok om naturvetenskap som någonsin skrivits.« | Royal Institution of Great Britain»Den lika skarpa som melankoliska tonen äter sig långsamt in i läsarens medvetande. Den som noggrant läser Levi utvecklas som människa.« | Jan Karlsson, Kristianstadsbladet»Periodiska systemet är en unik bok, ett växelspel mellan spetskunskap, en fruktansvärd erfarenhet och en hisnande litterär talang. Allt sammanhållet av den mer svårdefinierade kvaliteten vi kan kalla godhet.« | The Guardian»Periodiska systemet har kallats världens bästa bok om naturvetenskap. (...) Men det fina är hur den samtidigt berättar om en enskild mans färd genom det fasansfulla europeiska 1900-talet, där kemin ger just materialitet åt det upplevda. Det lägger en återhållande barriär mellan det innersta och det yttersta som bara förstärker berättelsens kraft.« | Jenny Aschenbrenner, SvDPeriodiska systemet är på samma gång självbiografisk skrift och en reflektion över den mänskliga naturen såsom förbunden med den materiella kemin. I 21 kapitel, rubricerade som grundämnena, berättar Auschwitz-överlevaren Primo Levi på den klaraste, vackraste prosa om sina släktingar och kamrater, från förkrigsåren i hemstaden Turin, via krigsårens partisankretsar, fram till att han deporteras, som anti-fascistisk partisan och jude, till lägret.Periodiska systemet [Il sistema periodico, 1975] är litteratur som finner sin egen unika form bortom genrer. Ett mästerverk av författaren och kemisten, och ett av vår tids största vittnen, Primo Levi. Här i svensk översättning av Ingrid Börge och med ett nyskrivet förord av litteraturkritikern Kaj Schueler.PRIMO LEVI [1919 -1987], född i Turin, var en italiensk författare och kemist, som överlevde Auschwitz och som vittnat därom i ett flertal böcker som gjort Levi till en av de viktigaste författarna när vi talar om vittneslitteratur.»Den bästa bok om naturvetenskap som någonsin skrivits.« | ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN»Vartenda kapitel överraskar, med insikter, stor humor och ett språk som gång efter annan blir stor poesi.« | THE NEW YORKER

In this collection of essays based on his time as a Jewish prisoner in the Nazi camps, Primo Levi creates a series of sketches of the people he met who retained their humanity even in the most inhumane circumstances.Having already written two memoirs of his survival at Auschwitz, Levi knew there was still more left untold. Collected in this book are stray vignettes of fifteen individuals Levi met during his imprisonment. Whether it was the young Romani man who smuggled a creased photo of his bride past the camp guards or the starving prisoner who still insisted on fasting on Yom Kippur, the memory of these individuals stayed with Levi for long after. They represent for him "bizarre, marginal moments of reprieve." Neither simple heroes nor victims, but people who never lost sight of their humanity in the face of unimaginable suffering. Written with the author's signature humility and intelligence, Moments of Reprieve shines with lyricism and insight. Nearly forty years after their publication, Levi's words remain as beautiful as they are necessary. Along with Elie Wiesel and Hannah Arendt, Primo Levi is remembered as one of the most powerful and perceptive writers on the Holocaust and the Jewish experience during World War II. This is an essential book both for students and literary readers. Reading Primo Levi is a lesson in the resiliency of the human spirit.

In his final book before his death, Primo Levi returns once more to his time at Auschwitz in a moving meditation on memory, resiliency, and the struggle to comprehend unimaginable tragedy. Drawing on history, philosophy, and his own personal experiences, Levi asks if we have already begun to forget about the Holocaust. His last book before his death, Levi returns to the subject that would define his reputation as a writer and a witness. Levi breaks his book into eight essays, ranging from topics like the unreliability of memory to how violence twists both the victim and the victimizer. He shares how difficult it is for him to tell his experiences with his children and friends. He also debunks the myth that most of the Germans were in the dark about the Final Solution or that Jews never attempted to escape the camps. As the Holocaust recedes into the past and fewer and fewer survivors are left to tell their stories, The Drowned and the Saved is a vital first-person testament. Along with Elie Wiesel and Hannah Arendt, Primo Levi is remembered as one of the most powerful and perceptive writers on the Holocaust and the Jewish experience during World War II. This is an essential book both for students and literary readers. Reading Primo Levi is a lesson in the resiliency of the human spirit.

A chemist-turned-writer and a construction rigger in a remote factory pass the time swapping tales of their lives and voyages. Primo Levi's most light-hearted novel, The Monkey's Wrench is a tribute to storytelling, human ingenuity, and the importance of finding meaningful work in life. "A lot of stories have happened to me," says Faussone, the mysterious construction rigger at the center of this comic novel by Primo Levi. Far from home on a work assignment, Libertino Faussone befriends the book's narrator, a chemist based loosely off of Levi himself. Although he can't quite explain it, the chemist is immediately entranced by the wandering laborer who has traveled to every corner of the world. The two embark on an unlikely friendship, trading tales filled with curses and spies, scandal and heartbreak. With its easy-going and even whimsical tone, The Monkey's Wrench is a change from Primo Levi's other works. Yet its message is just as vital. The novel reminds us about the importance of connection between strangers, our endless capacity to solve even the most challenging of problems, and finding fulfillment in work. Along with Elie Wiesel and Hannah Arendt, Primo Levi is remembered as one of the most powerful and perceptive writers on the Holocaust and the Jewish experience during World War II. This is an essential book both for students and literary readers. Reading Primo Levi is a lesson in the resiliency of the human spirit.

In September 1979, at age fifty-six, writer and artist Arturo Benvenuti fueled up his motor home and set forth on what he knew would be an emotional journey. His plan?his own Viae Crucis?was to meet with as many former prisoners of Nazi-fascist concentration camps as he could. He wanted not only to learn their stories, but to learn from their stories. He met with dozens of survivors from Auschwitz, Terezín, Mauthausen-Gusen, Buchenwald, Dachau, Gonars, Monigo, Renicci, Banjica, Ravensbrück, Jasenovac, Belsen, and Gurs. Many of these men and women shared their memories with Benvenuti along with artwork they’d created during their internment with pencil, ink, and charcoal. After four decades of research, Benvenuti presented these original black-and-white pieces in Imprisoned. This stunning collection provides visuals that oftentimes even the most eloquent words and sentences cannot convey. In his foreword, chemist, writer, and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi highlighted the importance of these reproductions, stating, ?some have the immediate power of art; all have the raw power of the eye that has seen and that transmits its indignation.”

Primo Levi, the Italian-born chemist once described by Philip Roth as that "quicksilver little woodland creature enlivened by the forest's most astute intelligence," has largely been considered a heroic figure in the annals of twentieth-century literature for If This Is a Man, his haunting account of Auschwitz. Yet Levi's body of work extends considerably beyond his experience as a survivor. Now, the transformation of Levi from Holocaust memoirist to one of the twentieth century's greatest writers culminates in this publication of The Complete Works of Primo Levi. This magisterial collection finally gathers all of Levi's fourteen books--memoirs, essays, poetry, and fiction--into three slip-cased volumes. Thirteen of the books feature new translations, and the other is newly revised by the original translator. Nobel laureate Toni Morrison introduces Levi's writing as a "triumph of human identity and worth over the pathology of human destruction." The appearance of this historic publication will occasion a major reappraisal of "one of the most valuable writers of our time" (Alfred Kazin). The Complete Works of Primo Levi features all new translations of: The Periodic Table, The Drowned and the Saved, The Truce, Natural Histories, Flaw of Form, The Wrench, Lilith, Other People's Trades, and If Not Now, When?--as well as all of Levi's poems, essays, and other nonfiction work, some of which have never appeared before in English.

While in a Russian-administered holding camp in Katowice, Poland, in 1945, Primo Levi was asked to provide a report on living conditions in Auschwitz. Published the following year, it was subsequently forgotten and remained unknown to a wider public.Dating from the weeks and months immediately after the war, Auschwitz Report details the authors' harrowing deportation to Auschwitz, and how those who disembarked from the train were selected for work or extermination. As well as being a searing narrative of everyday life in the camp, and the organization and working of the gas chambers, it constitutes Levi's first lucid attempts to come to terms with the raw horror of events that would drive him to create some of the greatest works of twentieth-century literature and testimony. Auschwitz Report is a major literary and historical discovery.

Primo Levi's devastating and classic account of what it meant to have survived the Holocaust.

Amid Levi's grim tales of the Holocaust, The Wrench is an optimistic life-enhancing novel.

Twenty-five years of the best of Primo Levi's essays on matters as diverse on The Holocaust and the Austrian Wine-as-anti-freeze scandal.

Boken är trådbunden med synlig rygg Primo Levis tre böcker betraktas som en av de främsta vittnesskildringarna av Förintelsen. I den här samlingsutgåvan har Göran Rosenberg skrivet ett viktigt förord.1944 arresterades Primo Levi i norra Italien och deporterades till förintelselägret Buna nära Auschwitz. Han var då i tjugoårsåldern. I Är detta en människa? berättar han lågmält och engagerat om fasorna. Fristen är skildring av de nio månader det tog att återvända hem efter befrielsen 1945, genom städer och byar i ett sönderslaget Europa. Året före sin död, publicerar Levi sitt sista stora credo om Förintelsen. I boken De förlorade och de räddade deklarerar han att de som överlevde Auschwitz inte är de verkliga, de yttersta vittnena. Det är de som förintades. "Alla borde läsa Primo Levi! Göran Rosenberg har skrivit ett mycket läsvärt och väsentligt förord. Det är oerhört viktigt att vittneslitteraturen över nazismens alla vederstyggliga fasor inte glöms bort i tidevarv av stor historielöshet, utarmad folkbildning och irrlärors snabba spridning i olika virtuella nät-verk." Dala Demokraten