Primo Levi: An Identikit
Over the last seventy years, Primo Levi (1919–87) has been recognized as the foremost literary witness of the extermination of the European Jews. In Primo Levi: An Identikit, a product of…
Books
The indecipherable mess of human life
Due vite (Two Lives) by Emanuele Trevi is a luminous, beautifully written wisdom book. It was deservedly awarded the 2021 Premio Strega, Italy’s major literary prize, and awaits the foresight of…
A chemist’s book changed John Barnett’s life.
The graphic artist’s Carbon illustrates an element’s journey from a star to his brain We are delighted to repost a review of John Barnett’s beautifully conceived visual meditation on the…
Angelo Fortunato Formiggini: An Italian Publisher
Born in Modena to a family of court jewelers who had maintained their private synagogue for generations, Angelo Fortunato Formiggini (1878–1938) was a publisher first in Modena (1908–11), then in…
Paying attention to the tonality of life: 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 in history. We are drawn to a memoir when all…
The Persecution and Exile of Jewish Musicians in Fascist Italy
The disproportionate impact (despite all of today’s technology and social media) of the current pandemic on musicians and performers is a pale indication of what it means —creatively, financially, and…
For a Memory Culture Beyond Victims and Perpetrators
This essay appears an preface to the English edition of Valentina Pisanty’s book The Guardians of Memory (CPL Editions, 2021). Valentina Pisanty’s The Guardians of Memory opens with a paradox…
Sartre, The Jew and the Other
Book Review: Manuela Consonni and Vivian Liska, Sartre, Jews and the Other, The Vidal Sassoon Studies in Antisemitism, Racism, and Prejudice, 2020 Abe and his friend Sol are out for a…
Laura Orvieto’s Stories of the World
Storie Della Storia del Mondo, Laura Orvieto’s Timeless Introduction to Homeric Lore. Maxine De Winter in conversation with Alessandro Cassin. Laura Cantoni Orvieto (1876- 1955) was an important Italian Jewish…
The Exact Number of Stars
Ribka Sibhatu, Aulò! Aulò! Aulò! Translated by André Naffis-Sahely from the Italian and from Italian translations of the Tigrinya and Amharic made by the author. (Poetry Translation Centre, 2020). We are thankful…