Critical Essay | Interview by Primo Levi with Risa Sodi

Interview by Primo Levi with Risa Sodi

SOURCE: “An Interview with Primo Levi,” in Partisan Review, Summer, 1987, pp. 355-66.

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 writers, you among them.¹ Does it seem a bit strained to you to call all six of you “Jewish writers”?

[Primo Levi]: Yes, in Italy, it is quite difficult to apply a label such as “Jewish writer” or “non-Jewish writer.” In my case, it was the Americans, not the Italians, who first used it. In Italy, I'm known as a writer who is occasionally Jewish. Not in America. The last time I was in America, in 1985, it was as if they had pinned the Magen David on me again! Nonetheless, I don't mind. As far as I'm concerned, it's fairly easy to define me...
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