Echoes of a Lost Voice: Encounters with Primo LeviGabriella Poli, and Giorgio Calcagno

Abstract

Echoes of a Lost Voice: Encounters with Primo Levi is an invaluable resource for Levi scholars as well as a fascinating read for anyone exploring his reflections on the Holocaust, writing, science, Judaism, and many other topics. A translation by Nat Paterson from the original Italian edition (1992), Echoes compiles interviews with and articles by Levi, organized chronologically and contextualized by Gabriella Poli and Giorgio Calcagno. Each chapter is dedicated to a different work or collection by Levi, describing its genesis while referencing his side projects and relating media attention from the time. Echoes is a sort of literary biography, exploring Levi’s evolution as a writer, his role in adaptations of his works, his ongoing reflections on the Shoah, and other topics. The book thus brings together articles scattered in various outlets over a great deal of time. Echoes avoids synopses of Levi’s works, and there is no attempt to determine the veracity of events he recounted, as can be found in biographies like The Double Bond by Carole Angier (2002) or Primo Levi: A Life by Ian Thomson (2014). Additionally, there is little on his personal life or family. Instead, Echoes’ purpose is assembling decades of interviews and extra-literary work into a single volume for readers who may not know of their existence or have access to them. Poli and Calcagno focus on Levi as an author and public intellectual, and long passages are direct quotes. Chapter 1, “The Centaur,” focuses on If this is a man and Levi’s emergence as a writer. Chapter 2, “A New Incarnation,” examines The Truce, but also Levi’s fears, doubts, and hopes for the play based on his Holocaust memoir (the authors contend that Levi was still resolving survivor versus writer identity issues). Chapter 3, “The Welding,” looks at The Periodic Table and Levi as an “author of memory,” but it also depicts Levi’s visits to schools to talk about Auschwitz. The very short chapter 4, “Poetry, a Strange Infection,” treats Levi’s verse, which he had been writing starting in 1943, showing that he had a strong urge to write before his Holocaust memoir. Chapter 5 “From the Lab to the Writing Desk,” concerns Levi’s short stories and talks presented throughout Italy, also discussing his theories about writing and his reflections on the Italian literary scene and the poetics of the time. In chapter 6, “Holiday Interlude,” we discover the role Levi played in the films and recordings based on his works. Chapter 7, “The Watershed,” portrays Levi’s experience writing The Monkey Wrench, affording the reader insight into his feelings regarding his home city of Turin, the Piedmontese dialect, and the importance of labor. Chapter 8, “If We Keep Silent, Who Will Speak?,” documents Levi’s visit to Auschwitz at a time when Holocaust denial was rearing its head. In chapter 9, “Giving and Having,” the authors delve more deeply into issues of identity, the importance of work, and thoughts on writing with specific reference to his compilation of The Search for Roots. In chapter 10, “A Happy Creature,” the writing of If Not Now, When? takes center stage and we learn of the freedom Levi felt writing his first non-autobiographical novel. Chapter 11, “Jewishness,” examines Levi’s perception of his own Jewishness as well as his attitudes toward Israel. Chapter 12, “Field Invasions,” presents Levi’s acceptance of the fact that writing was now his work, depicting the period around the creation of The Drowned and the Saved. Finally, chapter 13, “The Circle Closes,” discusses some of the final words Levi penned before his suicide, addressing such matters as the notion of a collective voice in remembrance, the idea of forgiveness and repentance, and the need for a Hippocratic Oath for scientists.