Title Primo Levi and the politics of survival / Frederic D. Homer

Published Columbia : University of Missouri Press, ©2001

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Description 1 online resource (vii, 277 pages) Contents Force Majeure -- Hobbesian Hell -- Ill-Constituted Beings -- Violence -- The Tragic Sense of Life -- Useful Qualities of Human Nature -- Choices -- Purpose and Work -- Optimistic Pessimism -- Civilized Liberalism -- A Defense of Modernism -- Levi's Death Summary At the age of twenty-five, Primo Levi was sent to Hell. Levi, an Italian chemist from Turin, was one of many swept up in the Holocaust of World War II and sent to die in the German concentration camp in Auschwitz. Of the 650 people transported to the camp in his group, only 15 men and 9 women survived. After Soviet liberation of the camp in 1945, Levi wrote books, essays, short stories, poetry, and a novel, in which he painstakingly described the horrors of his experience at Auschwitz. He also spent the rest of his life struggling with the fact that he was not among those who were killed. In Primo Levi and the Politics of Survival, Frederic D. Homer looks at Primo Levi's life but, more important, shows him to be a significant political philosopher. In the course of his writings, Levi asked and answered his most haunting question: can someone be brutalized by a terrifying experience and, upon return to "ordinary life," recover from the physical and moral destruction he has suffered? Levi used this question to develop a philosophy positing that although man is no match for life, he can become better prepared to contend with the tragedies in life. According to Levi, the horrors of the world occur because of the strength of human tendencies, which make relationships between human beings exceedingly fragile. He believed that we are ill-constituted beings who have tendencies toward violence and domination, dividing ourselves into Us and Them, with very shallow loyalties. He also maintained that our only refuge is in education and responsibility, which may counter these tendencies. Homer calls Levi's philosophy "optimistic pessimism." As Homer demonstrates, Levi took his past experiences into account to determine that goodwill and democratic institutions do not come easily to people. Liberal society is to be earned through discipline and responsibility toward our weaknesses. Levi's answer is "civilized liberalism." To achieve this we must counter some of our most stubborn tendencies. Homer also explores the impact of Levi's death, an apparent suicide, on the way in which his work and theories have been perceived. While several critics discount Levi's work because of the nature of his death, Homer argues that his death is consistent with his philosophy. A book rich in brutally honest philosophy, Primo Levi and the Politics of Survival compels one to look at serious questions about life, tragedy, optimism, solidarity, violence, and human nature Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-271) and index Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL English Print version record digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL Subject Levi, Primo -- Political and social views Levi, Primo -- Philosophy SUBJECT Levi, Primo, 1919-1987 fast Subject Politics and culture -- Italy -- History -- 20th century Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Authors, Italian -- 20th century -- Biography Holocaust survivors -- Italy -- Biography Jews -- Italy -- Biography Authors, Italian -- 20th century -- Biography Holocaust survivors -- Italy -- Biography LITERARY CRITICISM -- European -- Italian. Authors, Italian Holocaust survivors Jews Philosophy Political and social views Politics and culture Politieke filosofie. Italy Genre/Form Biographies History Biographies. Biographies. Form Electronic book LC no. 2001027168 ISBN 0826263003 9780826263001 0826213383 9780826213389

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