Primo Levi and the Identity of a Survivor

190 Pages·2016·0.745 MB·English

by  Nancy Harrowitz

PRIMO LEVI AND THE IDENTITY OF A SURVIVOR
This page intentionally left blank
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
© University of Toronto Press 2016
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
Printed in the U.S.A.
ISBN 978-1-4875-0102-0
♾ Printed on acid-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper with vegetable-
based inks.
(Toronto Italian Studies)
_________________________________________________________________
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Harrowitz, Nancy A. (Nancy Anne), 1952–, author
Primo Levi and the identity of a survivor / Nancy Harrowitz.
(Toronto Italian studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4875-0102-0 (cloth)
1. Levi, Primo–Criticism and interpretation. I. Title.
II. Series: Toronto Italian studies
PQ4872.E8Z75 2016 853'.914 C2016-904898-5
_________________________________________________________________
A portion of chapter 3 (pp. 67–81) is a revised version of a chapter originally
published as “Mon Maître, Mon Monstre” in Monsters in the Italian Literary
Imagination, ed. Keala Jewell (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2011),
pp. 51–62.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its
publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario
Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.
Funded by the Financé par le
Government gouvernement
of Canada du Canada
To my mother, Irene Harrowitz, who taught me the
meaning of persistence
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1 Introduction 3
2 The Complications of Jewish Identity 12
3 Primo Levi’s Writerly Identity: From Science to Storytelling 40
4 Against Autobiography 82
5 Shame’s Identity 108
6 Conclusion: Cautionary Tales: Early Poetry 138
Notes 149
Bibliography 163
Index 171
This page intentionally left blank
Acknowledgments
There are many in the community of Levi scholars to whom I owe
much for animated conversation and intellectual stimulation. First and
foremost are the members of an informal Primo Levi scholars group
who regularly organized conference panels and lectures together over
the past ten or more years: Risa Sodi, whose significant early work on
Levi was an inspiration; Penny Marcus, who together with Risa orga-
nized an important conference on Levi at Yale and who has written
beautifully on Levi; Robert Gordon and Joe Farrell, both major forces in
Levi studies; and Jonathan Druker, Stan Pugliese, Sharon Portnoff, and
Berel Lang, all of whom have not only written essential works on Levi
but organized and participated in those scholarly events that inspired
further study of this important author. I’ve had countless thought-
provoking conversations over the years with them and owe them
a large debt of gratitude for their stimulating work in this field. My
department and college at Boston University have also been unstint-
ingly supportive of my research.
To my other friends, who read chapters and made a real impact on my
work, in particular Melissa Zeiger, Beth Goldsmith, Fiora Bassanese, and
Keala Jewell: life would have been so much harder without your encour-
aging words. And finally, to my husband August Watters, who sup-
ported this project and played so much sweet music in the background.