89 Primo Levi

The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson

Arts, History, Books

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2017

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Primo Levi (1919-1987) lived quietly and wrote with restraint. An Italian Jewish writer, professional chemist, and Holocaust survivor, he was, said Italo Calvino, “one of the most important and gifted writers of our time.” Host Jacke Wilson takes a look at his life, his mysterious death, and his most important works, including If This Is a Man (US title: Survival in Auschwitz) and The Periodic Table, named by the Royal Institution of Great Britain as the greatest science book ever written. FREE GIFT! Write a review on iTunes (or another site), then send us an email at jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com to receive your free History of Literature postcard as a thank you gift. Act now while supplies last! Show Notes: Contact the host at jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or by leaving a voicemail at 1-361-4WILSON (1-361-494-5766). You can find more literary discussion at jackewilson.com and more episodes of the series at historyofliterature.com. Check out our Facebook page at facebook.com/historyofliterature. You can follow Jacke Wilson at his Twitter account @WriterJacke. You can also follow Mike and the Literature Supporters Club (and receive daily book recommendations) by looking for @literatureSC. Music Credits: “Handel – Entrance to the Queen of Sheba” by Advent Chamber Orchestra (From the Free Music Archive / CC by SA). “Piano Between” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to The History of Literature, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding literature, history, and storytelling like Storybound, Micheaux Mission, and The History of Standup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglamorate Network and LIT Hub Radio.
0:07.0	Hello, I'm Jack Wilson. Let's start today with an interview with author Philip Roth.
0:15.7	Primo continued my education when he and I became friends
0:19.2	for a brief time after I had a conversation with him in Turin on the publication of one of his books
0:28.0	and that conversation appears in my book Shop Talk. shop talk.
0:33.0	And the education didn't come from Primo directly, it came from reading his books.
0:39.9	And they're positively brilliant, I think.
0:43.8	The first book, which was called an English here in America, Survival in Auschwitz,
0:50.1	which was called an Italian, if this be a man.
0:53.5	And the second book, I forget what it's called here in America,
0:57.0	but it's called the truce in Italian
1:00.4	about his journey home to Turin from Auschwitz.
1:05.0	And there is no chronicler more valuable than Primo. And it's a masterpiece for 10 different reasons, just to have the moral poise that he has in reconstructing his days in their announcements.
1:28.4	And then he exceeds that even in his book called The Drowned and the Saved, which is really a reflection, meditation on Auschwitz,
1:41.0	whereas the first book, Survival in Auschwitz, is a record of his time there.
1:47.0	A masterpiece for 10 different reasons.
1:50.0	We're talking about one of the 20th century's greatest and most important writers, Primo Levy, today on the history of literature. Hello welcome to the podcast I'm your host happy to be here
2:16.0	these are dark times genuinely not sure what's going to happen we're in day
2:22.1	100 of a projected 1400 day regime. I just don't
2:26.7	know how this turns out. So in times like these we can turn to literature.
2:30.7	Literature lights the path. Great authors, great rhiners, men like
2:35.7	Primo Levy help us see things we might otherwise not. We'll talk about all of that
	...

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