A
New York Times
Notable Book of the Year Named one of the Best Books of the Year by the
Washington Post
and
Library Journal
A Holiday Gift Guide Selection in the
San Francisco Chronicle
Newsday
New York Times Book Review
Editors’ Choice Selection
The Complete Works of Primo Levi
, which includes seminal works like
If This Is a Man
The Periodic Table
, finally gathers all fourteen of Levi’s books—memoirs, essays, poetry, commentary, and fiction—into three slipcased volumes.
Primo Levi, the Italian-born chemist once described by Philip Roth as that “quicksilver little woodland creature enlivened by the forest’s most astute intelligence,” has largely been considered a heroic figure in the annals of twentieth-century literature for
, his haunting account of Auschwitz. Yet Levi’s body of work extends considerably beyond his experience as a survivor. Now, the transformation of Levi from Holocaust memoirist to one of the twentieth century’s greatest writers culminates in this publication of
. This magisterial collection finally gathers all of Levi’s fourteen books—memoirs, essays, poetry, and fiction—into three slip-cased volumes. Thirteen of the books feature new translations, and the other is newly revised by the original translator. Nobel laureate Toni Morrison introduces Levi’s writing as a “triumph of human identity and worth over the pathology of human destruction.” The appearance of this historic publication will occasion a major reappraisal of “one of the most valuable writers of our time” (Alfred Kazin).
features all new translations of:
The Periodic Table, The Drowned and the Saved, The Truce, Natural Histories, Flaw of Form, The Wrench, Lilith, Other People’s Trades
, and
If Not Now, When?
—as well as all of Levi’s poems, essays, and other nonfiction work, some of which have never appeared before in English.