The ongoing relevance of Levi’s work is not its ecumenical lesson against intolerance—in the vein of Anne Frank’s diary for instance—but rather its ability to draw out the contradictory essence of dehumanization and resilience while remaining specific, precise and historically grounded. It tells us that “remembering” is ephemeral and insufficient, because the Holocaust happened once but the struggle carries on.
A Chemist’s Book Changed John Barnett’s Life.
Chemist and writer Primo Levi’s The Periodic Table—a memoir in the form of short stories about elements—closes with a chapter…
Angelo Fortunato Formiggini: An Italian Publisher
Eliza Pederzoli’s biography L’arte di farsi conoscere. Formiggini e la diffusione del libro e della cultura italiana nel mondo (Roma,…
Slavery and Conversion in Papal Rome
Scholar of forced baptisms Marina Caffiero talks about the House of Catechumens and the various groups that were forcibly or…
Marina Jarre’s Distant Fathers
Rewarding memoirs, like portraits, introduce us to a central character interacting with his or her world at a specific time…
