Primo Levi's Universe: A Writer's Journey [Hardcover]

Sam Magavern (Author), Risa Sodi (Afterword), Jonathan Rosen (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2009

Primo Levi is best known for his memoir, Survival in Auschwitz, but he was also a scientist, fiction writer, and poet: in short, a Renaissance man, who did not want to be known exclusively as a Holocaust writer. Using Levi's own words as a springboard, Sam Magavern offers here for the first time a multi-faceted portrait of the man - as a writer. By exploring all of Levi's writings—including his short stories, poems, his delightful novels about blue-collar workers—Magavern introduces us to a talented writer who had a profound love of humanity, a sharp wit, a passion for his profession as a chemist—a man inspired by variety of things beyond his Holocaust experience. Magavern brings a fresh, personal sensibility to the way we think about Levi and produces a hybrid book—part life story and part literary biography, finally doing justice to the man's calm rationality and essential beliefs.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Commemorating the late Primo Levi's 90th birthday, this extended essay interweaves the writer's tragic life with his work. Small of stature, unpopular and a Jew in Fascist Italy, Levi was no model for success. Denied a career as an astrophysicist, he worked as a chemist and later as more of a company paper-pusher. Yet to paraphrase University of Buffalo Law School professor Magavern, though denied the chance to study the stars, Levi became the master chronicler of hell on earth in brilliant works like If This Is a Man and The Periodic Table. Aside from his imprisonment in Auschwitz, Levi was inspired by an eclectic group of authors from Dante to Melville, Paul Celan and, above all, Rabelais. Although Levi had two children and was quietly married for many years, an acquaintance once described him as a prisoner at home—living with both his mother and mother-in-law. Two longstanding affairs did little to relieve his battle with depression, and he died in 1987, falling down a stairwell. This is a measured and sensitive academic exploration of a complicated and tortured soul who desperately sought freedom throughout his lifetime. (July 7)
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Review

"Magavern, in clear, careful language that Levi would appreciate, leads us through Levi's works and life, opening our ears and minds to a richer understanding of one of the most subtle and complex writers of the twentieth century." --Ann Goldstein, The New Yorker, editor of the forthcoming complete works of Primo Levi

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (July 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0230606474
• ISBN-13: 978-0230606470
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #747,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging erudite literary bio of Primo Levi, September 17, 2009

By 

Ami Danoff - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Primo Levi's Universe: A Writer's Journey (Hardcover)

This engaging and erudite work is as much an exploration of the creative urge as it is a literary biography. Sam Magavern examines Primo Levi's quest to synthesize a system by which to make order of his eventful life and give shape to ethical inquiry. Magavern writes his fresh, thoughtful study of Levi so clearly and cogently that this book offers great appeal to an audience beyond Levi-readers or literature scholars. This is one of the best books I've read this year.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a wonderful book, February 6, 2010

By 

Jamie Worrell (Providence, RI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Primo Levi's Universe: A Writer's Journey (Hardcover)

Author Sam Magavern's book is enjoyable and thought provoking, offering a glimpse inside the world of writer, scientist, thinker and auschwitz survivor Primo Levi. As a writer's biography it examines both the author and his literary works, tracing the author's development as a man and a writer. It provides interesting insights on the impact and influence of the historical backdrop and other literary works on the writer and man. Primo Levi's Universe has broad appeal for those who enjoy biography and history. Great book!

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Splendid... Spectacular... Riveting... Illuminating..., July 23, 2009

By 

T. Maynor (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Primo Levi's Universe: A Writer's Journey (Hardcover)

is what I'm convinced I'll be exhorting when I read this masterpiece. There is no end to Magavern's incite. He remains the sharpest thoughtful man alive. Don't steal this book, buy multiple copies. Now!