Centro Primo Levi Online Monthly
David is never fulfilled nor satisfied with himself. He is constantly searching for new emotions, unexpected events, and adventures, which are often dangerous and with little prospect. He clings to the talismans and amulets of the Kabbalah as the only lifeline in a storm of events that he cannot control, dodging obstacles that threaten him, often set in motion by himself.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…