From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, the first intellectual
biography of Primo Levi to describe the intersection of his roles
as both chemist and writer In 1943, twenty-four-year-old Primo Levi
had just begun a career in chemistry when, after joining a partisan
group, he was captured by the Italian Fascist Militia and deported
to Auschwitz. Of the 650 Italian Jews in his transport, he was one
of fewer than 25 who survived the eleven months before the camp's
liberation. Upon returning to his native Turin, Levi resumed work
as a chemist and was employed for thirty years by a company
specializing in paints and other chemical coatings. Yet soon after
his return to Turin, he also began writing-memoirs, essays, novels,
short stories, poetry-and it is for this work that he has won
international recognition. His first book, If This Is a Man, issued
in 1947 after great difficulty in finding a publisher, remains a
landmark document of the twentieth century. Berel Lang's
groundbreaking biography shines new light on Levi's role as a major
intellectual and literary figure-an important Holocaust writer and
witness but also an innovative moral thinker in whom his two roles
as chemist and writer converged, providing the "matter" of his
life. Levi's writing combined a scientist's attentiveness to
structure and detail, an ironic imagination that found in all
nature an ingenuity at once inviting and evasive, and a powerful
and passionate moral imagination. Lang's approach provides a
philosophically acute and nuanced analysis of Levi as thinker,
witness, writer, and scientific detective. About Jewish Lives:
Jewish Lives is a prizewinning series of interpretative biography
designed to explore the many facets of Jewish identity. Individual
volumes illuminate the imprint of Jewish figures upon literature,
religion, philosophy, politics, cultural and economic life, and the
arts and sciences. Subjects are paired with authors to elicit
lively, deeply informed books that explore the range and depth of
the Jewish experience from antiquity to the present. In 2014, the
Jewish Book Council named Jewish Lives the winner of its Jewish
Book of the Year Award, the first series ever to receive this
award. More praise for Jewish Lives: "Excellent." -New York Times
"Exemplary." -Wall Street Journal "Distinguished." -New Yorker
"Superb." -The Guardian
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
