Primo Levi Summary

Levi, Primo Primo Levi (1919–1987) was born to an assimilated Jewish family in Turin, Italy. In 1944, after training as a chemist, Levi joined a group of antifascist partisans, was captured, an... Read more

Italian author and chemist Primo Levi (1919-1987) was considered one of the foremost writers of concentration camp literature. He recounted with objective, scientific precision and detail the horrors ... Read more

Primo Levi, an Italian chemist and Auschwitz survivor, is a writer whose explorations of contemporary moral history put him at the forefront of Holocaust literature. He is most often associated with H... Read more

In the following interview, Levi reflects on his experience at Auschwitz and its impact on his writing. [Risa Sodi]: A recent book by the historian H. Stuart Hughes profiles six Italian Jewish writ... Read more

In the following essay, Rugoff compares Levi's The Periodic Table, Heinrich Böll's What's to Become of the Boy? Or: Something to Do with Books, and Saul Friedländer&... Read more

In the following essay, Losey explores Levi's use of epiphany in his work, asserting that his “contribution to the epiphanic mode defies traditional notions of influence.” Prim... Read more

In the following essay, Todorov discusses the central themes of Levi's work—memory and offense—and reflects on his legacy. With the passing of time, Primo Levi has become one o... Read more

In the following essay, Bailey offers a positive review of Other People's Trades. This absorbing book [Other People's Trades] is composed of occasional essays contributed by Primo Lev... Read more

In the following review of Other People's Trades, Michaels deems Levi as “original, various, always lucid; there is a pleasing natural consistency to him.” Primo Levi's ... Read more

In the following review, Gordon provides a mixed review of the science-fiction stories comprising The Sixth Day. The Sixth Day is a collection of Primo Levi's science-fantasy stories taken f... Read more

In the following essay, Markey contends that Levi's The Sixth Day “can be provocative reading, less for its fiction than for the poignant insight it gives into the agonized soul of an ac... Read more