Primo Levi: Tragedy of an Optimist

Primo Levi: Tragedy of an Optimist

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Myriam Anissimov

Primo Levi: Tragedy of an Optimist

1998

Overlook Press

Book

English

9781585670208

Italy

Open Access

"Primo Levi (1919-87) once wrote "No one can say what his past would have been like 'if'." If it had not been for what happened to him at the age of 24, this unassuming Italian chemist might have lived and died unknown to all but his family and friends. It was the Holocaust that changed his life, and that gave him an intense need to testify." "His testimony is conveyed in a series of extraordinary books, the first of which, If This Is a Man, bears crucial witness to the horrors of the Holocaust, yet, nevertheless, in calm, almost serene, exemplary prose compellingly asserts the triumph of dignity and reason over brutality and baseness." "If This Is a Man was finally published in 1947 to respectful reviews but modest sales. In 1958 If This Is a Man was reissued in Italy, this time with great success. Other books followed, including The Truce, an account of his return from the camps through a disintegrating Europe. The Periodic Table, a brilliant, beautiful book, was published to a torrent of praise, and made his name known around the world. Re-publication of all his books swiftly followed; they were translated into seventeen languages in eighteen countries, and everywhere this gentle, discreet and modest man found himself praised and honoured." "On 11 April 1987 Primo Levi died. One of the most respected and beloved writers of our times, he had been expected to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Yet his death is widely thought to have been suicide."

Kristen Walker