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The Mirror Maker: Stories and Essays
With the publication of The Periodic Table on 1984, Primo Levi became one of America’s most beloved writers. This new collection of his stories and essays reveals the full imaginative range of this great Italian writer. Most of the stories are science fiction and fantasy, combining Levi’s love for science with his keen perception of human nature. The essays, originally written for the Italian newspaper La Stampa, cover a broad range of his interests, from art and literature to politics and current affairs. Levi’s quick wit and humanity shine through in these gemlike pieces.
191 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
11 people are currently reading
315 people want to read
About the author
Primo Levi
179 books2,337 followersPrimo Levi was an Italian Jewish chemist, writer, and Holocaust survivor whose literary work has had a profound impact on how the world understands the Holocaust and its aftermath. Born in Turin in 1919, he studied chemistry at the University of Turin and graduated in 1941. During World War II, Levi joined the Italian resistance, but was captured by Fascist forces in 1943. Because he was Jewish, he was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944, where he endured ten harrowing months before being liberated by the Red army.
After the war, Levi returned to Turin and resumed work as a chemist, but also began writing about his experiences. His first book, If This Is a Man (published in the U.S. as Survival in Auschwitz), is widely regarded as one of the most important Holocaust memoirs ever written. Known for its clarity, restraint, and moral depth, the book offers a powerful testimony of life inside the concentration camp. Levi went on to write several more works, including The Truce, a sequel recounting his long journey home after liberation, and The Periodic Table, a unique blend of memoir and scientific reflection, in which each chapter is named after a chemical element.
Throughout his writing, Levi combined scientific precision with literary grace, reflecting on human dignity, morality, and survival. His later works included fiction, essays, and poetry, all characterized by his lucid style and philosophical insight. Levi also addressed broader issues of science, ethics, and memory, positioning himself as a key voice in post-war European literature.
Despite his success, Levi struggled with depression in his later years, and in 1987 he died after falling from the stairwell of his apartment building in Turin. While officially ruled a suicide, the exact circumstances of his death remain a subject of debate. Nevertheless, his legacy endures. Primo Levi’s body of work remains essential reading for its deep humanity, intellectual rigor, and unwavering commitment to bearing witness.
After the war, Levi returned to Turin and resumed work as a chemist, but also began writing about his experiences. His first book, If This Is a Man (published in the U.S. as Survival in Auschwitz), is widely regarded as one of the most important Holocaust memoirs ever written. Known for its clarity, restraint, and moral depth, the book offers a powerful testimony of life inside the concentration camp. Levi went on to write several more works, including The Truce, a sequel recounting his long journey home after liberation, and The Periodic Table, a unique blend of memoir and scientific reflection, in which each chapter is named after a chemical element.
Throughout his writing, Levi combined scientific precision with literary grace, reflecting on human dignity, morality, and survival. His later works included fiction, essays, and poetry, all characterized by his lucid style and philosophical insight. Levi also addressed broader issues of science, ethics, and memory, positioning himself as a key voice in post-war European literature.
Despite his success, Levi struggled with depression in his later years, and in 1987 he died after falling from the stairwell of his apartment building in Turin. While officially ruled a suicide, the exact circumstances of his death remain a subject of debate. Nevertheless, his legacy endures. Primo Levi’s body of work remains essential reading for its deep humanity, intellectual rigor, and unwavering commitment to bearing witness.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
October 18, 2012
'I beg the reader not to go in search of messages. It is a term that I detest because it distresses me greatly, for it forces on me clothes that are not mine, which in fact belong to a human type that I distrust, the prophet'
If any of you read an earlier review I wrote of a memoir of Levi which I read a few months ago you perhaps will be sniggering into your literary hands at this point. This sentiment Levi wrote in the first entry in this collection of stories, reflections and essays on various aspects of modern life, literary and, for want of a better word, secular and it pulled me up short as I think I have a tendency to perhaps look to him in exactly that way. Nevertheless, taking on board his stipulation to not set him up in borrowed clothes, I still found him an impressive and enthralling writer.
His love and recognition of the importance of friends and relationships trickles through everything he writes and in one poem he captured it with a lovely image
'Before the wax hardened,
when each of us was like a seal.
Each of us carries the imprint
Of the friend met along the way'
Some of the stories are rather hard going and dense but worth the effort for little thoughts and challenges they give but some were really insightful. The title story 'The Mirror Maker' is a clever short story in which the mirrors of this artisan, when placed on the forehead of another person, reveals to the one who looks into the mirror the way in which they are seen by the other. It is an ingenious little reflection on the way we are seen or indeed see ourselves, the truth we hide from or seek to embroider.
However it was the essays i found interesting. They cover the twenty years or so that he was contributing articles to 'La Stampa' and they touch on all sorts of interests some of which have passed out of relevance but some, with a small amount of tweaking, still speak quite clearly and yes Primo I am sorry but in my opinion quite prophetically if what we mean by that is helping us to interpret the present.
Just one which i found fascinating was the article he wrote on rhyming poetry. He defended and indeed championed the art of rhyme and in his hands the arguments made a lot of sense.
One of the things he points out is that the poet tends to violate the norm;
'at times he transgresses due to incompetence, at other times becasue he feels it is too narrow for him, at still others due to a conscious will to violate it'.
The true poet, he claims, feels the drive to become a violater because 'poetry is intrinsic violence done to everyday language'. From this position though he moves swiftly to say that with the abolition of rhyme the power and wonder of the poetic vocation is, to an extent, lost.
'This apparent freedom has flung open the doors to the army of born poets; and as said before, all of us are born poets (in the sense that we are all potentially innovators and inventers of word and concept)...it is a harmful phenomenon because it threatens to distract attention from the authentic new voices that certainly exist scattered among this crowd'.
This could smack of some horrendous elitism but I do not think Levi is meaning this. He recognizes the right of everyone to express but his point is the poetic vocation and work is one which does need to involve effort. Inspiration is one thing but moulding and enlivening that inspiration is quite another. I read elsewhere how Levi saw the vocation of the writer was to elucidate and help enlighten not to obscure and obfuscate. The scientist in him presumably saw the importance of this clarity of thought and expression and although i would not necessarily wholeheatedly embrace his theory because, as they say, some of my best friends are non-rhyming poets, still his underlying point, his underlying cri de coeur for clarity and sense seems to be perfectly reasonable.
Another of his points in this interesting essay was seemingly in contradiction where he says, in defending rhyme, it stretches thought and sense.
'Anyone who sets out to compose in rhyme imposes on himself a limitation, which, however, is rewarding. He is committed to ending a verse not with the word dictated by discursive logic but with another, stranger word. And so he is compelled to deviate, to leave the path that is easier because it is predicatble. The restriction of rhyme obliges the poet to resort to the unpredictable'
Anyway, though i did not wholly agree with his argument it was a fascinating essay and made me think and that, obviously, is why we read after all.
Reading this collection was very enjoyable and i have no doubt other readers would choose different essays which might better express their reason for enjoying the book but it was well worth the look.
On the front cover of my copy Claire Tomalin is quoted as saying
'To be welcomed and savoured'. Yep, i could go with that.
If any of you read an earlier review I wrote of a memoir of Levi which I read a few months ago you perhaps will be sniggering into your literary hands at this point. This sentiment Levi wrote in the first entry in this collection of stories, reflections and essays on various aspects of modern life, literary and, for want of a better word, secular and it pulled me up short as I think I have a tendency to perhaps look to him in exactly that way. Nevertheless, taking on board his stipulation to not set him up in borrowed clothes, I still found him an impressive and enthralling writer.
His love and recognition of the importance of friends and relationships trickles through everything he writes and in one poem he captured it with a lovely image
'Before the wax hardened,
when each of us was like a seal.
Each of us carries the imprint
Of the friend met along the way'
Some of the stories are rather hard going and dense but worth the effort for little thoughts and challenges they give but some were really insightful. The title story 'The Mirror Maker' is a clever short story in which the mirrors of this artisan, when placed on the forehead of another person, reveals to the one who looks into the mirror the way in which they are seen by the other. It is an ingenious little reflection on the way we are seen or indeed see ourselves, the truth we hide from or seek to embroider.
However it was the essays i found interesting. They cover the twenty years or so that he was contributing articles to 'La Stampa' and they touch on all sorts of interests some of which have passed out of relevance but some, with a small amount of tweaking, still speak quite clearly and yes Primo I am sorry but in my opinion quite prophetically if what we mean by that is helping us to interpret the present.
Just one which i found fascinating was the article he wrote on rhyming poetry. He defended and indeed championed the art of rhyme and in his hands the arguments made a lot of sense.
One of the things he points out is that the poet tends to violate the norm;
'at times he transgresses due to incompetence, at other times becasue he feels it is too narrow for him, at still others due to a conscious will to violate it'.
The true poet, he claims, feels the drive to become a violater because 'poetry is intrinsic violence done to everyday language'. From this position though he moves swiftly to say that with the abolition of rhyme the power and wonder of the poetic vocation is, to an extent, lost.
'This apparent freedom has flung open the doors to the army of born poets; and as said before, all of us are born poets (in the sense that we are all potentially innovators and inventers of word and concept)...it is a harmful phenomenon because it threatens to distract attention from the authentic new voices that certainly exist scattered among this crowd'.
This could smack of some horrendous elitism but I do not think Levi is meaning this. He recognizes the right of everyone to express but his point is the poetic vocation and work is one which does need to involve effort. Inspiration is one thing but moulding and enlivening that inspiration is quite another. I read elsewhere how Levi saw the vocation of the writer was to elucidate and help enlighten not to obscure and obfuscate. The scientist in him presumably saw the importance of this clarity of thought and expression and although i would not necessarily wholeheatedly embrace his theory because, as they say, some of my best friends are non-rhyming poets, still his underlying point, his underlying cri de coeur for clarity and sense seems to be perfectly reasonable.
Another of his points in this interesting essay was seemingly in contradiction where he says, in defending rhyme, it stretches thought and sense.
'Anyone who sets out to compose in rhyme imposes on himself a limitation, which, however, is rewarding. He is committed to ending a verse not with the word dictated by discursive logic but with another, stranger word. And so he is compelled to deviate, to leave the path that is easier because it is predicatble. The restriction of rhyme obliges the poet to resort to the unpredictable'
Anyway, though i did not wholly agree with his argument it was a fascinating essay and made me think and that, obviously, is why we read after all.
Reading this collection was very enjoyable and i have no doubt other readers would choose different essays which might better express their reason for enjoying the book but it was well worth the look.
On the front cover of my copy Claire Tomalin is quoted as saying
'To be welcomed and savoured'. Yep, i could go with that.
May 13, 2016
4.5 stars !!
(Stories - 4, Essays - 4.5)
This was a really good book. A small book comprising of twelve science-fiction/fantasy short stories, and twenty-one short essays.
I have to admit, in spite of my love for SF, I liked and enjoyed reading the essays in this book more than the included stories! They brought in quite a few new thoughts to my craving brain. :P
THE STORIES:-
In The Interview , Elio is interviewed by an alien who wants to find out about Earth; while They Were Made To Be Together 'joins the two' through a different world !
In The Great Mutation , cases of contagious viral infection is observed, and the Major Mutation leads to a certain 'development'. This story asks the question, "Why should all viral infections be harmful ?" I especially loved this one. (5-stars)
In Five Intimate Interviews , five creatures are interviewed by a journalist; them being a Herring Gull, a Mole, a Giraffe, a Spider, and the Escherichia Coli (an intestinal bacteria). Nice to read from all of their perspectives. (5-stars)
In The Mirror Maker , Timoteo and his family have been creating mirrors through their ancestral times. But this time he invents Metamirs - Metaphysical Mirrors - capable of reflecting how (in various ways) others see us. And no two ways coincide !! (5-stars)
In Through The Walls , Memnone, an alchemist thrown in jail, knows that it is all about the density of Matter; and uses this idea to escape 'through the walls' - two meters thick, but with a heavy price !!, or was it a gift ?! This was an intense, superb story! (5-stars)
In The Ant's Wedding , a Queen Ant is interviewed. I cannot remember much of it now, but was certainly interesting.
In Time Checkmated , an invention is made to accelerate, slow down, or arrest subjective time at the subject's will.
THE ESSAYS:-
Rhyming On The Counterattack reflects on Poetry and the virtues of Rhyming.
Dear Horace is an imaginary letter to Horace Walpole on his two hundredth death anniversary in 1997, mentioning all the 'progress' made by mankind since his times.
About Gossip is a small write-up, the author imagining what would have been the contents of his book if he would write one about gossip.
Jack London's Buck is an analysis of the character of Buck the dog, in Jack London's The Call of the Wild.
Adam's Clay delves into a new hypothesis for the Origins of Life as laid down by A.G. Cairns-Smith in his book Seven Clues to the Origin of Life: A Scientific Detective Story.
The Spider's Secret , in which Levi having an experience in the field of producing varnishes, lays down the secret of the Spider Silk.
Defiance in the Ghetto speaks about the Warsaw ghetto uprising by the Jews in April 1943.
Hatching the Cobra is a call to all upcoming scientists to make a conscientious decision before giving oneself to a certain cause for research in the field of science.
Some more essays included are:
The Commander of Auschwitz
The Moon and Man
Our Dreams
The Struggle for Life
Spears Become Shields
Translating Kafka
Bacteria Roulette
Among the Peaks of Manhattan
The Wine of the Borgias
Reproducing Miracles
The Man Who Flies
The Dispute Among German Historians
Nearly all of the Essays are interesting.
I would love to read a few of these stories and essays again before returning my copy back to ____.
(Stories - 4, Essays - 4.5)
This was a really good book. A small book comprising of twelve science-fiction/fantasy short stories, and twenty-one short essays.
I have to admit, in spite of my love for SF, I liked and enjoyed reading the essays in this book more than the included stories! They brought in quite a few new thoughts to my craving brain. :P
THE STORIES:-
In The Interview , Elio is interviewed by an alien who wants to find out about Earth; while They Were Made To Be Together 'joins the two' through a different world !
In The Great Mutation , cases of contagious viral infection is observed, and the Major Mutation leads to a certain 'development'. This story asks the question, "Why should all viral infections be harmful ?" I especially loved this one. (5-stars)
In Five Intimate Interviews , five creatures are interviewed by a journalist; them being a Herring Gull, a Mole, a Giraffe, a Spider, and the Escherichia Coli (an intestinal bacteria). Nice to read from all of their perspectives. (5-stars)
In The Mirror Maker , Timoteo and his family have been creating mirrors through their ancestral times. But this time he invents Metamirs - Metaphysical Mirrors - capable of reflecting how (in various ways) others see us. And no two ways coincide !! (5-stars)
In Through The Walls , Memnone, an alchemist thrown in jail, knows that it is all about the density of Matter; and uses this idea to escape 'through the walls' - two meters thick, but with a heavy price !!, or was it a gift ?! This was an intense, superb story! (5-stars)
In The Ant's Wedding , a Queen Ant is interviewed. I cannot remember much of it now, but was certainly interesting.
In Time Checkmated , an invention is made to accelerate, slow down, or arrest subjective time at the subject's will.
THE ESSAYS:-
Rhyming On The Counterattack reflects on Poetry and the virtues of Rhyming.
Dear Horace is an imaginary letter to Horace Walpole on his two hundredth death anniversary in 1997, mentioning all the 'progress' made by mankind since his times.
About Gossip is a small write-up, the author imagining what would have been the contents of his book if he would write one about gossip.
Jack London's Buck is an analysis of the character of Buck the dog, in Jack London's The Call of the Wild.
Adam's Clay delves into a new hypothesis for the Origins of Life as laid down by A.G. Cairns-Smith in his book Seven Clues to the Origin of Life: A Scientific Detective Story.
The Spider's Secret , in which Levi having an experience in the field of producing varnishes, lays down the secret of the Spider Silk.
Defiance in the Ghetto speaks about the Warsaw ghetto uprising by the Jews in April 1943.
Hatching the Cobra is a call to all upcoming scientists to make a conscientious decision before giving oneself to a certain cause for research in the field of science.
Some more essays included are:
The Commander of Auschwitz
The Moon and Man
Our Dreams
The Struggle for Life
Spears Become Shields
Translating Kafka
Bacteria Roulette
Among the Peaks of Manhattan
The Wine of the Borgias
Reproducing Miracles
The Man Who Flies
The Dispute Among German Historians
Nearly all of the Essays are interesting.
I would love to read a few of these stories and essays again before returning my copy back to ____.
July 10, 2022
Such beautiful beautiful prose. That’s all. So unfathomably beautiful. Genuinely choked me up at times, no other writer i’ve read can make everything sound so poetic. (props also to the translator for portraying this)
January 26, 2009
2.5 stars:
The Mirror Maker is a hybrid - the first half is made up of Levi's short stories; the second, of his essays. Overall, I wasn't very impressed but there were some interesting highlights.
Among the stories, I found "Force Majeure" the best. It's the story of an anonymous man who is confronted with a force majeure in the guise of a sailor who proceeds to utterly humiliate him publicly. The final paragraph reminded me forcefully of Somerset Maugham. As he's one of my favorites, that's probably why it stays with me:
I also enjoyed "The Great Mutation" and "The Tommy-Gun Under the Bed."
Among the essays, I found these the most interesting:
"The Struggle for Life," which questions the assumptions of radical egalitarianism; "Spears Become Shields," which asks for a small step toward making a more peaceful world (particularly topical considering the state of the world today); and the last three essays, "The Dispute among German Historians," "Defiance in the Ghetto," and "Hatching the Cobra."
The first of these latter essays attempts to illustrate why the Shoah is distinct from the Soviet gulag and previous and subsequent genocides. It boils down to intention: The Germans set about to wipe out an entire people (and had designs on other "undesirables" once the Jews were taken care of); the deaths of gulag prisoners was incidental, the result of neglect and indifference but not of ideology. I'm not sure the distinction is important. Both gulag and Lager were wrong; both should never have been allowed to occur.
The second essay celebrates the hopeless rebellion of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1944:
And in the final essay, Levi demands that scientists ask themselves what the point of their work is and "choose from the field that which may render less painful and less dangerous the journey of your contemporaries, and of those who come after you. Don't hide behind the hypocrisy of neutral science: you are educated enough to be able to evaluate whether from the egg you are hatching will issue a dove or a cobra or a chimera or perhaps nothing at all." (pp. 175-6)
The Mirror Maker is a hybrid - the first half is made up of Levi's short stories; the second, of his essays. Overall, I wasn't very impressed but there were some interesting highlights.
Among the stories, I found "Force Majeure" the best. It's the story of an anonymous man who is confronted with a force majeure in the guise of a sailor who proceeds to utterly humiliate him publicly. The final paragraph reminded me forcefully of Somerset Maugham. As he's one of my favorites, that's probably why it stays with me:
M. got to his feet, put on his glasses, and straightened his clothes. He made a rapid inventory: were there side advantages, advantages that someone trampled on derived from his condition? Compassion, sympathy, greater attention, less responsibility? No, because M. live alone. There weren't any, nor would there be any; or, if so, they would be minimal. The duel had not resembled its models: it had been unbalanced, unfair, dirty, and had dirtied him. The models, even the most violent, are chivalrous; life is not. He set out for his appointment, knowing that he would never be the same man as before. (p. 65)
I also enjoyed "The Great Mutation" and "The Tommy-Gun Under the Bed."
Among the essays, I found these the most interesting:
"The Struggle for Life," which questions the assumptions of radical egalitarianism; "Spears Become Shields," which asks for a small step toward making a more peaceful world (particularly topical considering the state of the world today); and the last three essays, "The Dispute among German Historians," "Defiance in the Ghetto," and "Hatching the Cobra."
The first of these latter essays attempts to illustrate why the Shoah is distinct from the Soviet gulag and previous and subsequent genocides. It boils down to intention: The Germans set about to wipe out an entire people (and had designs on other "undesirables" once the Jews were taken care of); the deaths of gulag prisoners was incidental, the result of neglect and indifference but not of ideology. I'm not sure the distinction is important. Both gulag and Lager were wrong; both should never have been allowed to occur.
The second essay celebrates the hopeless rebellion of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1944:
At a distance of forty years and in an ever more restless world, we do not want the sacrifice of the Warsaw Ghetto insurgents to be forgotten. They have demonstrated that even when everything is lost, it is granted to man to save, together with his own dignity, that of future generations. (pp. 170-1)
And in the final essay, Levi demands that scientists ask themselves what the point of their work is and "choose from the field that which may render less painful and less dangerous the journey of your contemporaries, and of those who come after you. Don't hide behind the hypocrisy of neutral science: you are educated enough to be able to evaluate whether from the egg you are hatching will issue a dove or a cobra or a chimera or perhaps nothing at all." (pp. 175-6)
October 18, 2008
A collection of Levi’s essays and short fiction, not his best stuff by a long shot, but well worth reading. I think this might be the last thing of his I hadn’t read yet (found it in a used bookstore in Bloomington, Heather). Primo Levi is one of those human beings that I have absolute trust in. He makes on a bad day the possibility of being human feasible (not to be overly dramatic about it). Read his Auschwitz memoirs, which are better. The Periodic Table is my absolute favorite.
February 10, 2012
One of the best collections of short stories ever written and compiled. My favorite.
October 29, 2018
The stories were the best, particularly the interviews with animals and insects.
November 21, 2021
Primo Levi woonde in Turijn, vanaf zijn geboorte in 1919 tot aan zijn dood in 1987, steeds in hetzelfde huis. In de oorlog kwam hij als Joods- Italiaan in het concentratiekamp Auschwitz terecht, dat hij als jongeman wist te overleven. Na de oorlog werkte hij als chemicus in een leidinggevende functie in een fabriek. Hij schreef over de oorlog indrukwekkende en wereldberoemde boeken zoals ‘Ecce homo’, in het Nederlands ‘Is dit een mens’.
Na zijn vervroegde pensionering in 1975 legde hij zich helemaal toe op schrijven. Hij schreef onder meer columns en beschouwingen voor een Italiaanse kwaliteitskrant. In ‘De spiegelmaker’ zijn 31 van deze columns opgenomen. Enkele hiervan gaan over de Tweede Wereldoorlog, maar er komen ook andere onderwerpen aan bod, zoals stukken over poëzie en over het schrijven van verhalen. Voorts gaan diverse stukken over de chemie en de fascinatie van Levi voor exacte vakken. Hij combineerde deze exacte belangstelling met liefde voor taal. Hij was dus geen eenzijdige beta-man. In Nederland heb je ook wel enkele schrijvers met een beta-achtergrond, zoals Gerrit Krol, W.F. Hermans en Hugo Brandt Corstius. Levi was daarbij ook een humanist. Hij hechtte eraan goed begrijpelijk en toegankelijk te schrijven, hij had een hekel aan een duistere manier van schrijven en wantrouwde dat ook. Het boek is zeker niet zwaar om te lezen, hier en daar zelfs lichtvoetig, maar dan wel met een serieuze inhoud.
De vertaler, Reinier Speelman, zorgde voor een verhelderend nawoord, nuttig voor een plaatsbepaling van dit werk in het oeuvre van Primo Levi.
Na zijn vervroegde pensionering in 1975 legde hij zich helemaal toe op schrijven. Hij schreef onder meer columns en beschouwingen voor een Italiaanse kwaliteitskrant. In ‘De spiegelmaker’ zijn 31 van deze columns opgenomen. Enkele hiervan gaan over de Tweede Wereldoorlog, maar er komen ook andere onderwerpen aan bod, zoals stukken over poëzie en over het schrijven van verhalen. Voorts gaan diverse stukken over de chemie en de fascinatie van Levi voor exacte vakken. Hij combineerde deze exacte belangstelling met liefde voor taal. Hij was dus geen eenzijdige beta-man. In Nederland heb je ook wel enkele schrijvers met een beta-achtergrond, zoals Gerrit Krol, W.F. Hermans en Hugo Brandt Corstius. Levi was daarbij ook een humanist. Hij hechtte eraan goed begrijpelijk en toegankelijk te schrijven, hij had een hekel aan een duistere manier van schrijven en wantrouwde dat ook. Het boek is zeker niet zwaar om te lezen, hier en daar zelfs lichtvoetig, maar dan wel met een serieuze inhoud.
De vertaler, Reinier Speelman, zorgde voor een verhelderend nawoord, nuttig voor een plaatsbepaling van dit werk in het oeuvre van Primo Levi.
May 23, 2013
'...varnishes are displacing Auschwitz in the "ground floor" of my memory: I realise this from my dreams, from which the Lager has by now disappeared and in which, with increasing frequency, I am faced with a varnish-maker's problem that I cannot solve.'
Wonderful writer... a great book. Essays and stories written in the last few years of his life, the majority of which are curious margin-scribblings on ideas, books, people, history, and - a recurring theme - animals. Some valuable thoughts on Fascism and the Holocaust, as always, and also some characteristically playful and fascinating writing on science - both hallmarks of Levi, who is so skilful at bringing different discourses together to stimulate thought.
Wonderful writer... a great book. Essays and stories written in the last few years of his life, the majority of which are curious margin-scribblings on ideas, books, people, history, and - a recurring theme - animals. Some valuable thoughts on Fascism and the Holocaust, as always, and also some characteristically playful and fascinating writing on science - both hallmarks of Levi, who is so skilful at bringing different discourses together to stimulate thought.
May 7, 2015
This is a book composed of very short stories and essays. The stories are especially clever. I most liked the "interviews" of various creatures: a seagull, mole, giraffe, queen ant and even bacterium. If I owned a copy of the book, instead of having taken it out from the library, I would often reread many of the pieces.
December 4, 2010
Far from essential reading but definitely interesting, especially to gain more insight into Levi's broad, intellectual depths.
February 10, 2013
my interest in Levi started after seeing part of a film based on his autobiography . I am glad of this as i am now hooked
January 29, 2014
I am still reading this book, I am about a third of the way through. I am totally fed up with it.
June 8, 2016
A class act. A thoughtful collection of short allegories and essays by a man, at the end of his life, who had seen it all.
December 15, 2018
Primo Levi spent a substantial portion of his life, before and after his retirement from his professional work as a chemist, in writing for both political and literary Italian magazines, and perhaps unsurprisingly this book contains a collection of that mixed material, some of it fictional in nature and some of it reflecting the author's thoughts about the wider world. And while the author's perspective and worldview is certainly very different from my own, they are less offensive than reading these pages from a contemporary American leftist magazine because one can have a greater degree of forbearance towards an outsider who clearly does not understand America and because he focused on broader and more abstract issues where intellectual discourse is capable without rancor. That is a rare trick, and these stories certainly succeed at providing the author's perspective with a great deal of skill. Not only is this due to Levi's own prose style, but also likely due to some very skillful translating as well, which probably helps to remove some of the rough patches that could have made the American reading audience feel less sympathetic towards the Italian leftist author.
This particular book of less than 200 pages contains a mixture of stories and essays, mostly about social and political issues. The stories themselves include some intriguing poems, a story about an alien abduction that is preceded by an interview "The Interview," another collection of "Five Intimate Interviews" between a harried reporter and various animals ranging from a herring gull to an e. coli in a friend's intestine that savors strongly of intelligent design. The author's interest in animal life is portrayed in the melancholy "The Ant's Wedding" and discussions about supposed inventions and technologies like "The Mirror Maker" and "Time Checkmated." Other stories relate to the author's experience in World War II, like "A Mystery In The Lager" and "The Tommy-Gun Under The Bed," while still other stories reflect on the violence done to historical memory by hostility between kindred peoples, as told in "The Two Flags." The author's essays are similarly thoughtful, including the author's desire for peacetime development to replace weapons development in "Spears Become Shields," some poignant thoughts on "Translating Kafka," a chemical analysis of "The Wine of the Borgias," literary criticism of "Jack London's Buck" in Call of the Wild, and disputes relating to the author's World WAr II experience as well as scientific research and space flight and even gossip.
In reading the author's thoughts, there are a variety of reflections that one can make. Levi has both a high degree of self-awareness as well as a great interest in communicating with others across the void of time and space and language. He understands the difficulty of communication but is wise enough to reject the fashionable nonsense that posits communication is impossible, as has remained popular in leftist circles for the past few decades. Indeed, if the author seems to be leftist with regards to his hostility to weapons research and his desire for world peace and his fears of destruction by nuclear weapons, his perspective seems to be more of the humane sort of liberal who values culture and humility of a traditional sort than the kind who desires these things out of a kind of weakness or cowardice. The author may not be a particularly physically courageous person, but he certainly has a high degree of moral courage, as when he criticizes wine companies for adulterating their wines with chemicals that can poison unwary customers who want wine that is both sweet and dry when the wineries are forbidden to sweeten the wines directly with sugar. The author's obvious historical and literary expertise makes these stories and essays far better than they would be in the hands of a less savvy and more strident contemporary leftist, and that is to be greatly appreciated.
This particular book of less than 200 pages contains a mixture of stories and essays, mostly about social and political issues. The stories themselves include some intriguing poems, a story about an alien abduction that is preceded by an interview "The Interview," another collection of "Five Intimate Interviews" between a harried reporter and various animals ranging from a herring gull to an e. coli in a friend's intestine that savors strongly of intelligent design. The author's interest in animal life is portrayed in the melancholy "The Ant's Wedding" and discussions about supposed inventions and technologies like "The Mirror Maker" and "Time Checkmated." Other stories relate to the author's experience in World War II, like "A Mystery In The Lager" and "The Tommy-Gun Under The Bed," while still other stories reflect on the violence done to historical memory by hostility between kindred peoples, as told in "The Two Flags." The author's essays are similarly thoughtful, including the author's desire for peacetime development to replace weapons development in "Spears Become Shields," some poignant thoughts on "Translating Kafka," a chemical analysis of "The Wine of the Borgias," literary criticism of "Jack London's Buck" in Call of the Wild, and disputes relating to the author's World WAr II experience as well as scientific research and space flight and even gossip.
In reading the author's thoughts, there are a variety of reflections that one can make. Levi has both a high degree of self-awareness as well as a great interest in communicating with others across the void of time and space and language. He understands the difficulty of communication but is wise enough to reject the fashionable nonsense that posits communication is impossible, as has remained popular in leftist circles for the past few decades. Indeed, if the author seems to be leftist with regards to his hostility to weapons research and his desire for world peace and his fears of destruction by nuclear weapons, his perspective seems to be more of the humane sort of liberal who values culture and humility of a traditional sort than the kind who desires these things out of a kind of weakness or cowardice. The author may not be a particularly physically courageous person, but he certainly has a high degree of moral courage, as when he criticizes wine companies for adulterating their wines with chemicals that can poison unwary customers who want wine that is both sweet and dry when the wineries are forbidden to sweeten the wines directly with sugar. The author's obvious historical and literary expertise makes these stories and essays far better than they would be in the hands of a less savvy and more strident contemporary leftist, and that is to be greatly appreciated.
May 29, 2018
My review is of the copy of this book found in Volume 3 of THE COMPLETE WORKS OF PRIMO LEVI. There are some differences in the content between this one and the stand alone edition. Compared to other books I have read by Levi, this collection is breezy and light. There is some weighty content, but most of the collection is light with reflections on a wide range of subjects matter. The short stories range from fantasy ("The Great Mutation") & sci-fi ("The Interview") to the more serious ("The Machine Gun Under the Bed"), and range from the whimsical to tender lost love ("An Erector Set Made with Love"). With some of the stories, I thought I moved from short story to memoir. As enjoyable as the stories are, I think the essays are the gems of this collection. These cover a broad range of subject matter - dreams, rhyme, Kafka, the double edge sword of science, gossip, man in space, and more - in writing that is precise and clear. Levi's writing (and the translator for this edition, Anne Milano Appel, deserves credit too) makes it seem as if he is conversing with you at your patio table. A reader might be tempted to skip some of the essays because the topic is not interesting to that reader, but if you do you will miss enjoyable writing. For example, I have no interest in "Piedmontese" and had I skipped this essay ("Fair as a Flower") I would have missed an enjoyable essay that didn't make me any more interested in Piedmontese, but it was fun getting to his conclusion. I think readers of this collection will have their own favorites. For me, "The Interview," "The Great Mutation," "An Erector Set Made with Love" & "The Mirror Maker" stand out in the stories, and I think Kafka would have enjoyed "Force Majeure." In the collection of essays, "The Commander of Auschwitz" is a thoughtful reflection on the importance of the middlemen in the staying power of tyranny, and "The Moon and Man" stands out for Levi's optimism of what we (humankind) can do, if we put our "daring and brilliance" in the right direction. Some of the content may be 2 stars, some 5; the collection is filled wit optimism and joy.
January 5, 2022
I bought this book from Astley Book Farm, after searching for Levi's Se questo è un uomo and only finding this collection in his name. When I bought it, I didn't realise that Levi had continued writing after his experiences in Auschwitz about anything other than Auschwitz - probably because the first place in which I encountered his words was Dan Gretton's I You We Them: Journeys Beyond Evil: The Desk Killer in History and Today - and I certainly didn't realise that he was a scientist before he devoted his life to journalism and writing, particularly science and science fiction respectively.
I'm going to talk about the sections in this book that I liked, because I will admit, some of the scientific essays went right over my head.
'The Ant's Wedding': honestly hilarious and informative - and for some reason, the Queen reminded me of Evelyn Hugo? Taylor Jenkins Reid, you've clearly dug deep into my brain.
'Dear Horace': oh, the joy of a modern Italian speaking to Horace about Latin... I love it.
'Defiance in the Ghetto': wonderful retelling of an often forgotten moment of Jewish resistance against the Nazi program - 'At a distance of forty years and in an ever more restless world, we do not want the sacrifice of the Warsaw Ghetto insurgents to be forgotten. They have demonstrated that even when everything is lost, it is granted to man to save, together with his own dignity, that of future generations.'
'Hatching the Cobra': yes, Levi, I also begin all of my Latin translations with the phrase 'there are probably other translators who've done this better'.
I'm going to talk about the sections in this book that I liked, because I will admit, some of the scientific essays went right over my head.
'The Ant's Wedding': honestly hilarious and informative - and for some reason, the Queen reminded me of Evelyn Hugo? Taylor Jenkins Reid, you've clearly dug deep into my brain.
'Dear Horace': oh, the joy of a modern Italian speaking to Horace about Latin... I love it.
'Defiance in the Ghetto': wonderful retelling of an often forgotten moment of Jewish resistance against the Nazi program - 'At a distance of forty years and in an ever more restless world, we do not want the sacrifice of the Warsaw Ghetto insurgents to be forgotten. They have demonstrated that even when everything is lost, it is granted to man to save, together with his own dignity, that of future generations.'
'Hatching the Cobra': yes, Levi, I also begin all of my Latin translations with the phrase 'there are probably other translators who've done this better'.
August 6, 2021
This set of essays and short stories by Primo Levi is a cluster of such moments. Levi is careful with his words, not one is out of place or excessive. And each pushes a memory of puddle-water reflection in your mind. Levi has a way with meaning making. He says - by heart, ricordati, carried in the heart.
Sometimes these messages in the heart are translated to slight taps on the head. For the writer, he has a thought - when I write, he says, phrases from everywhere pour into it. For authors long dead, he has letters - he says, do you know, we can now fornicate without impregnating. For the self assured American, he has advice - a homeless man can sustain himself on your excessive waste. And your running shoes maybe everything, but beautiful, they are not. (Typical Italian?)
He has research for the gossiper and insight for the scientist - clue : how does the liquid from a spider turn into solid silk?
But when he approaches the Holocaust, his voice falters. With words that stumble against each other, he sort of cries out the pain and humiliation that afflicts human societies. His carefulness, then becomes a plea, a request, and it is here that I begin to curl into the voices he's left me with.
If you're struggling to make words build worlds, if you're struggling to press meaning or its lack into your stories, you should read Levi.
Sometimes these messages in the heart are translated to slight taps on the head. For the writer, he has a thought - when I write, he says, phrases from everywhere pour into it. For authors long dead, he has letters - he says, do you know, we can now fornicate without impregnating. For the self assured American, he has advice - a homeless man can sustain himself on your excessive waste. And your running shoes maybe everything, but beautiful, they are not. (Typical Italian?)
He has research for the gossiper and insight for the scientist - clue : how does the liquid from a spider turn into solid silk?
But when he approaches the Holocaust, his voice falters. With words that stumble against each other, he sort of cries out the pain and humiliation that afflicts human societies. His carefulness, then becomes a plea, a request, and it is here that I begin to curl into the voices he's left me with.
If you're struggling to make words build worlds, if you're struggling to press meaning or its lack into your stories, you should read Levi.
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June 23, 2025Colorado, June 2025.
Mostly (completely?) written in the 80s. I don't know that much about Primo Levi except what one hears or could find easily through your favorite search engine.
The stories and essays collected here are short and to the point. Well written and considered. Many feel just as valid today as they were in the 80s. Especially those warning of the dangers of whitewashing history and the even greater dangers posed by nuclear weapons. Between the time I started this book and the time I finished it my great and glorious country (how much am I at fault for being born here? For living here? For working here and contributing to this economy? I digress) has bombed Iran because... I'm really not sure anyone knows but one hears the term "nuclear weapons" tossed around.
Somedays I want to opt out of the future. Somedays it just feels like a sorry rerun of the past. I suppose the point of remembering the future is to be able to cry in all the right places when it's played on repeat.
Sigh.
Mostly (completely?) written in the 80s. I don't know that much about Primo Levi except what one hears or could find easily through your favorite search engine.
The stories and essays collected here are short and to the point. Well written and considered. Many feel just as valid today as they were in the 80s. Especially those warning of the dangers of whitewashing history and the even greater dangers posed by nuclear weapons. Between the time I started this book and the time I finished it my great and glorious country (how much am I at fault for being born here? For living here? For working here and contributing to this economy? I digress) has bombed Iran because... I'm really not sure anyone knows but one hears the term "nuclear weapons" tossed around.
Somedays I want to opt out of the future. Somedays it just feels like a sorry rerun of the past. I suppose the point of remembering the future is to be able to cry in all the right places when it's played on repeat.
Sigh.
October 3, 2021
Rationed this out in small doses to make it last. Wonderful, as Levi’s work always is; beautiful, clever and thought provoking. This is a collection of short pieces; essays, opinions, short stories, ‘interviews’ with unusual subjects and reviews. In a way, this reminds me of The Periodic Table, which was my introduction to Levi’s work. That was a collection on a consistent theme, while this is more eclectic, but both are a great pleasure to read. His experiences in a concentration camp and his professional knowledge as a chemist pervade his work, so we have The Wine of the Borgias, which considers the scandal of ‘anti freeze’ in wine, and The Commander of Auschwitz, which considers the capture of Baer. But we also have an essay on spiderwebs, and a short story about a teenaged girl who grows wings. And many others. All are very short, all showcase Levi’s startlingly original mind. A little treasure.
July 14, 2019
Levi is a masterful writer and thinker. The shorts essays by him were a treat to read with many of them provoking interesting thoughts along the way. Even if the short stories felt to fall flat at times (only some of the though, most were still good), the essays compensated for it by far.
July 19, 2023
It never occurred to me that Primo Levi would have a sense of humour. There is a lot of Calvino’s playful inventiveness, and Eco’s wry, often even silly social commentary.
An enormous witness, and voice for humanity.
An enormous witness, and voice for humanity.
March 10, 2025
Stumbled upon Primo Levi when browsing the bookshelves in a local second-hand bookstore - bought all of his books I could find in the store. What a find!
Very short Short stories and essays on wide-ranging topics. But wonderful nonetheless!
Very short Short stories and essays on wide-ranging topics. But wonderful nonetheless!
June 5, 2023
Somewhat outdated and a little tedious. Brightened by the occasional penetrating insight.
March 15, 2024
Interessante raccolta di racconti e saggi di Primo Levi , sinora avevo letto solo i tre suoi libri più famosi
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