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Dialogo: Nuova edizione
The renowned novelist and chronicler of the Nazi concentration camps, Primo Levi together with Tullio Regge, a leading physicist in the development of quantum mechanics, engage in a conversation that will enlighten and amuse the reader.
86 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
3 people are currently reading
182 people want to read
About the author
Primo Levi
179 books2,345 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 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 7, 2019
I suppose the reason I hang out so much on this site is that I dream of someday stumbling over a comment thread that's as effortlessly brilliant as this little book, where an iconic author just happens to end up chatting for a few dozen posts with a witty and articulate physicist, and they shoot the breeze for a while about the metaphysics of the Many Worlds Interpretation, whether Orlando Furioso is really a comic book, what the best science-fiction novels are (yay Dragon's Egg!), the occasional horrifying detour into memories of the Holocaust, then back to how large Borges's Library of Babel would have been, a quick comparison of Cicero's and Lucretius's Latin style, and who did the most insane chemistry experiment when they were teens. People would gather from all over the internet and chew popcorn with their mouths open. But since it's unlikely to happen, why not read Conversations instead?
January 1, 2019
An erudite and entertaining exchange between two notable Italian minds. Is it relevant that they are Italian? Yes, since one of the things discussed is the impact of Fascism on education and science in particular. And yet here they are, survivors in more ways than one, in the case of Levi.
Primo Levi explains why, at the age of past sixty, he felt he must learn to write with a word processor - and this was in the late seventies/early eighties.
I'm surprised that one could say this so early. I got my first computer around 1988 and this was scarcely a common thing to do yet. And a person may be living on the margins with one - I can see that in the case of my mother, for example, who sees them as the work of the devil - but she is very cultured. The connection isn't one I see, any more than thinking swimming is a cultured thing to do. Full disclosure - neither my mother nor I know how to swim.
Regge on how he became a physicist despite the best efforts of his father.
Levi on the way in which his training in chemistry influenced how he wrote. And on becoming free of it as his job.
rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpre...
Primo Levi explains why, at the age of past sixty, he felt he must learn to write with a word processor - and this was in the late seventies/early eighties.
I read Pozzoli's book Writing With a Computer, and it had on me the effect of the bugle call that wakes you up in the barracks. I realised that today one can certainly live without a computer, but one lives at the margins and is bound to become more and more detached from active society. The Greeks said of a person without culture: 'He can neither write nor swim.' Today one should add: 'Nor use a computer'.
I'm surprised that one could say this so early. I got my first computer around 1988 and this was scarcely a common thing to do yet. And a person may be living on the margins with one - I can see that in the case of my mother, for example, who sees them as the work of the devil - but she is very cultured. The connection isn't one I see, any more than thinking swimming is a cultured thing to do. Full disclosure - neither my mother nor I know how to swim.
Regge on how he became a physicist despite the best efforts of his father.
'Get a serious degree, my father kept saying. Physics isn't serious. If you want to do physics, get a degree in chemistry too, because put together they are like a degree in engineering. And when I got my degree in physics with the highest marks and I was given a teaching fellowship, he still insisted. At a certain point I went to Russia and Pravda published my photograph. I cut it out and sent it to my father. "So he'll stop telling me to get a degree in chemistry," I explained to my Russian friends who asked me why. This anecdote is still in circulation even now. I always run into somebody who asks me if my father is still insisting.'
Levi on the way in which his training in chemistry influenced how he wrote. And on becoming free of it as his job.
rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpre...
September 22, 2010
It's mostly about physics and is a dialogue of Primo Levi and Tullio Regge (who is allegedly being interviewed by Levi) talking about their backgrounds as scientists in Italy and around the world. There is very little about the Holocaust, Primo Levi has many other books covering this topic. It is interesting to learn about how Levi became a chemist. And though, Regge steals the show for the most part, what he talks about can either be fascinating with all the physicists he's met, or a bit abstruse in his ideas about using physics to write science fiction. A quick read and well worth the investment, just to learn something different about Primo Levi.
April 26, 2012
Portuguese translation "Diálogo sobre a ciência e os homens".
102 p. na versão portuguesa. Uma conversa entre um químico e um físico, mistura de vida, literatura e ciência. Respostas, não encontramos. Mas, ficamos com imensas dúvidas e questões.
"O nosso conhecimento sobre o funcionamento de uma sociedade humana é muito mais imperfeito do que o nosso conhecimento sobre máquinas" p. 87, fala Tulio Regge.
102 p. na versão portuguesa. Uma conversa entre um químico e um físico, mistura de vida, literatura e ciência. Respostas, não encontramos. Mas, ficamos com imensas dúvidas e questões.
"O nosso conhecimento sobre o funcionamento de uma sociedade humana é muito mais imperfeito do que o nosso conhecimento sobre máquinas" p. 87, fala Tulio Regge.
November 2, 2012
Interessante dialogo tra Tullio Regge e Primo Levi.
Un dialogo che attraversa la fisica - uno era un fisico, l'altro un chimico - ma si permea di immaginazione, di attenzione alla superficie delle cose - per quanto la superficie possa essere ruvida e profonda, a volte.
Un dialogo che attraversa la fisica - uno era un fisico, l'altro un chimico - ma si permea di immaginazione, di attenzione alla superficie delle cose - per quanto la superficie possa essere ruvida e profonda, a volte.
August 14, 2010
Wished there was more from Levi and less pontificating from Regge. Basically, the entire "conversation" is Regge interviewing himself. He even wrote his own introduction.
Read
February 1, 2024Regge: The Talmud is a boundless work.......rabbinical judgements.......They are antifeminist in the most incredible way.
Levi: In this regard, too, there is no doubt that the Talmud contains everything and the contrary of everything. It depends on what filter you use. You can extract from it feminist judgements as well as anti-feminist judgments, praise of study as well as its abomination. You can indeed find everything in it. Also nonsense, such as the story that the Eternal Father spends three out of twenty-four hours studying the Torah, that is himself." p. 5
Regge: "Heisenberg did his most important work in his youth, at twenty-six to be precise, when he defined for the first time some very important concepts on measurement in quantum mechanics, which in synthesis is that if I measure an atom, my measuring apparatus disturbs the atom and the result I arrive at depends on the procedure I have applied. In other words, there does not exist an objective reality, or at least not in the traditional sense." p. 30
Levi: In this regard, too, there is no doubt that the Talmud contains everything and the contrary of everything. It depends on what filter you use. You can extract from it feminist judgements as well as anti-feminist judgments, praise of study as well as its abomination. You can indeed find everything in it. Also nonsense, such as the story that the Eternal Father spends three out of twenty-four hours studying the Torah, that is himself." p. 5
Regge: "Heisenberg did his most important work in his youth, at twenty-six to be precise, when he defined for the first time some very important concepts on measurement in quantum mechanics, which in synthesis is that if I measure an atom, my measuring apparatus disturbs the atom and the result I arrive at depends on the procedure I have applied. In other words, there does not exist an objective reality, or at least not in the traditional sense." p. 30
September 5, 2024
“Ravvisare o creare una simmetria, «mettere qualcosa al posto giusto», è una avventura mentale comune al poeta e allo scienziato.” - Pag. 10
La trascrizione di una conversazione tra due scienziati, un fisico, Tullio Regge, e un chimico, Primo Levi, avvenuta a metà degli anni Ottanta. Gli argomenti? La loro formazione scientifica, l'assurda separazione delle cosiddette “due culture” e il dramma gentiliano, la fisica e la fantascienza, l'avvento dei calcolatori elettronici e molto altro. Peccato che, più che un dialogo a due voci egualmente alternate, risulti essere più un'intervista a Regge. Ciò nonostante, i pochi interventi di Levi contengono perle significative (anche quelli di Regge, non sto affermando il contrario, ma avrei gradito un maggiore equilibrio).
Da leggere insieme a “Invito alla meraviglia” di Ian McEwan.
La trascrizione di una conversazione tra due scienziati, un fisico, Tullio Regge, e un chimico, Primo Levi, avvenuta a metà degli anni Ottanta. Gli argomenti? La loro formazione scientifica, l'assurda separazione delle cosiddette “due culture” e il dramma gentiliano, la fisica e la fantascienza, l'avvento dei calcolatori elettronici e molto altro. Peccato che, più che un dialogo a due voci egualmente alternate, risulti essere più un'intervista a Regge. Ciò nonostante, i pochi interventi di Levi contengono perle significative (anche quelli di Regge, non sto affermando il contrario, ma avrei gradito un maggiore equilibrio).
Da leggere insieme a “Invito alla meraviglia” di Ian McEwan.
December 6, 2020
mi è sembrato, in diverse parti, che non fosse granché un dialogo: Regge e Levi incrociano dei monologhi parlando di argomenti comuni, ogni risposta non è strettamente legata a quella precedente, non è una conversazione/discussione vera, tranne forse nella parte finale dell'argomento fantascienza (dopo che Regge ha parlato da solo per molto tempo). resta che sono entrambi piacevolissimi da leggere e intellettualmente nutrienti
May 27, 2018
Un paio d'ore di discussione tra due persone curiose. C'è molta fisica, nella chiacchierata tra Levi e Regge, a tratti pure specialistica. Ma ci sono anche riflessioni sul modo con cui ci si pone di fronte ai problemi. Nelle parole dei due torinesi c'è una voglia di capire che sovrasta quella di giudicare. Il dialogo nella sua forma più bella.
April 15, 2023
"To discern or create a symmetry, 'put something in its proper place,' is a mental adventure common to the poet and the scientist."
March 2, 2024
A very strange and delightful little volume ...easily consumed in an afternoon but to fully digest it could take a lifetime
November 9, 2024
Starts as an interesting conversation about the pasts and philosophies of two equal men. Sadly it then devolves into a series of egotistical monologues by Regge, full of name dropping and unrelated scientific rambling.
Levi (the more interesting character) struggles to get a word in and the book is worse off for it.
Levi (the more interesting character) struggles to get a word in and the book is worse off for it.
January 11, 2019
Nel 1984 Primo Levi e Tullio Regge si incontrano a casa di quest'ultimo e chiacchierano per qualche ora. Quella chiacchierata è riportata fedelmente in questo libro. All'inizio si parla dell'ebraismo e dell'interesse di Regge per lo studio dell'antico ebraico, in modo da leggere la Torah nella sua versione originale. Levi - pur essendo ebreo - ricorda poco dei suoi studi in sinagoga e cambia in fretta argomento. Fin da subito Regge appare quello più intellettuale dei due, più desideroso di mostrare la propria enorme cultura. In poche battute si arriva a parlare di scienza, argomento che accomuna entrambi, a partire dalle scoperte giovanili e gli studi universitari. Qui Regge, che è un fisico di grande fama, prende il sopravvento e conduce un monologo piuttosto lungo in cui ripercorre la storia della fisica del XX secolo, ricordandone i protagonisti e in particolare quelli che lui stesso ha conosciuto di persona. Levi, che è uno dei più grandi intellettuali che l'Italia abbia mai avuto, rimane in disparte e ascolta. Regge, che è chiaramente dotato di un ego smisurato, non ha freni e si lancia in avventurose predizioni sul futuro dell'umanità. Alla fine restano poche pagine per permettere a Levi di riportare il discorso su questioni di attualità dell'epoca.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews