Answering Auschwitz : : Primo Levi's Science and Humanism after the Fall / / Stanislao G. Pugliese.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Fordham University Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2014
• VerfasserIn: Pugliese, Stanislao G.,
• MitwirkendeR: Ahr, Johan,; Baird, Marie L.,; Bowman, Terri,; Druker, Jonathan,; Farrell, Joseph,; Giuliani, Massimo,; Goldstein, Ann,; Harrowitz, Nancy,; Klein, Ilona,; McClellan, William,; Mellone, James Tasato,; Misurella, Fred,; Patruno, Nicholas,; Pugliese, Stanislao G.,; Pytell, Timothy,; Scheiber, Elizabeth,; Simon, Amy,; Sodi, Risa,; Thomson, Ian,; Vandewaetere, Sara,; Warmund, Joram,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : Fordham University Press, , [2022]; ©2011
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (332 p.) :; 9 Illustrations, black and white

More than twenty years ago, the Italian chemist, writer and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi fell to his death from the stairwell of his apartment building in Turin. Within hours, a debate exploded as to whether his death was an accident or a suicide and, if the latter, how this might force us to reinterpret his legacy as a writer and “survivor.” Many weighed in with thoughtful and sometimes provocative commentary, but the debate over his death has sometimes overshadowed the larger significance of his place as a thinker “after Auschwitz.” This volume contains essays that deal directly with Levi and his work; others tangentially use Levi’s writings or ideas to explore larger issues in Holocaust studies, philosophy, theology, and the problem of representation. They are included here in the spirit that Levi described himself: proud of being “impure” and a “centaur,” cognizant that asymmetry is the fundamental structure of organic life. “I became a Jew in Auschwitz,” Levi once wrote, comparing the concentration camp to a “university” of life. Yet he could also paradoxically admit, in an interview late in life, “There is Auschwitz, and so there cannot be God.” Rather than seek to untangle these contradictions, Levi embraced them. This volume seeks to embrace them as well.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Prologue. Answering Auschwitz: Levi’s Science and Humanism as Antifascism -- Part One. Psychology, Theology, and Philosophy -- 1. ‘‘Warum?’’ -- 2. Guilt or Shame? -- 3. Primo Levi and the Concept of History -- 4. Kenosis, Saturated Phenomenology, and Bearing Witness -- 5. After Auschwitz: What Is a Good Death? -- Part two. Humanism and Politics -- 6. The Humanity and Humanism of Primo Levi -- 7. Levi and the Two Cultures -- 8. The Partisan and His Doppelganger: The Case of Primo Levi -- 9. Primo Levi in the Public Interest: Turin, Auschwitz, Israel -- Part three. Literature -- 10. Primo Levi’s Struggle with the Spirit of Kafka -- 11. Ethics and Literary Strategies -- 12. Literary Encounters and Storytelling Techniques -- 13.Primo Levi and the History of Reception -- 14. Autobiography and the Narrator -- Part four. Reflections on Writing -- 15. Writing Against the Fascist Sword -- 16. ‘‘Singoli Stimoli’’: Primo Levi’s Poetry -- 17. Primo Levi’s Correspondence with Hety Schmitt-Maas -- 18. A Note on the Problem of Translation -- 19. Primo Levi: A Bibliography of English and Italian Scholarly Writings, 2003–2010 -- Epilogue. Primo Levi’s Gray Zone: A Sequence of Drawings -- Notes -- Works cited -- Contributors -- Index