Una nuova edizione per un classico del Novecento. Il testo è accompagnato dall'introduzione di David Bidussa, da note bio-bibliografiche e da una s...
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Oct 15, 2011
Tony
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THE DROWNED AND THE SAVED. (1988). Primo Levi. ****.
This was Primo Levi’s last book. In it, he tried to sum up his conclusions about the holocaust that he attempted to expound in his many earlier books. He admits, “An apology is in order. This very book is drenched in memory; what’s more, a distant memory. Thus it draws from a suspect source and must be protected against itself. So here then: it contains more considerations than memories, lingers more wilingly on the state of aff More...
This was Primo Levi’s last book. In it, he tried to sum up his conclusions about the holocaust that he attempted to expound in his many earlier books. He admits, “An apology is in order. This very book is drenched in memory; what’s more, a distant memory. Thus it draws from a suspect source and must be protected against itself. So here then: it contains more considerations than memories, lingers more wilingly on the state of aff More...
Sep 02, 2011
Tony
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For those who don't know, Primo Levi was a Jewish chemist from Modena, deported to Auschwitz in 1944 and liberated 11 months later. He died in the 1980's.
A lot of the book is about exploring the psychology of the trauma, both personal to him but also to nations and groups. Particularly interesting was to read how people (including me) have so many misconceptions. For example, he says that the biggest shock was that on arrival it was the other inmates who were aggressive to newcomers. More...
A lot of the book is about exploring the psychology of the trauma, both personal to him but also to nations and groups. Particularly interesting was to read how people (including me) have so many misconceptions. For example, he says that the biggest shock was that on arrival it was the other inmates who were aggressive to newcomers. More...
May 21, 2011
Howard
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Very interesting subjective analysis of what the Holocaust meant to someone who lived through it & survived internment in Auschwitz. I would give it five stars but for the fact that the book is not self-contained and refers to earlier writings, e.g., Survival in Auschwitz, in a manner suggesting that Levi presumes I've read that book, which I have not. The prose, translated from Italian to English, is captivating and I read for hours on end to complete the book in just two sittings. Other rev
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Oct 01, 2007
Pam
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Primo Levi wrote this book 40 years after the Holocaust, in effort to explain the meaning of the event so that it and its victims would not be forgotten. He is careful to discuss only that which he experienced first hand, so his writing is immediate and powerful. He doesn't accept any excuses from the German people and warns that it can happen again, anyplace, any time.
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Aug 27, 2011
Pete
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This book seems to serve as a philosphical postscript to Sr Levi's previous writings in that it refers, and adds, to subjects and themes already covered in other books. It includes some very profound insight which shows the mind of an intelligent man still struggling, even at a distance of some 30 years, to come to terms with the events of World War II, Germany and the people involved; particularly 'the Germans' the elusive, passive enemy.
The most remarkable statement of this book is tha More...
The most remarkable statement of this book is tha More...
Mar 11, 2009
Anna
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This book is divided for eight esseys:
a) Memory of indignity
b) Grey area
c) Shame - shame that you survived instead of a person, who you think was more intelligent, educated, produuctive.
d) Communicating - prisoners of Auschitz had problems with communicating with each other and the guards, because they came from different countries and speaking different tongues. Jews from Italy, Belgium, France didn't speak German or Yiddish.
e) Unneccesary violance - transporting More...
a) Memory of indignity
b) Grey area
c) Shame - shame that you survived instead of a person, who you think was more intelligent, educated, produuctive.
d) Communicating - prisoners of Auschitz had problems with communicating with each other and the guards, because they came from different countries and speaking different tongues. Jews from Italy, Belgium, France didn't speak German or Yiddish.
e) Unneccesary violance - transporting More...
Apr 06, 2009
Tish
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This book was a selection of a book club that I'm in. I have read a slew of books about the Holocaust and wasn't sure that I was ready for another one. I was wrong.
What I liked about this book is that it is a reflection, and memories to put the reflections into context, about a horrific chapter in human history. Primo writes about the "gray zone" of inmate hierarchy including the Kapos and how the Nazi system of dehumanization led to situations where inmates hurt each other More...
What I liked about this book is that it is a reflection, and memories to put the reflections into context, about a horrific chapter in human history. Primo writes about the "gray zone" of inmate hierarchy including the Kapos and how the Nazi system of dehumanization led to situations where inmates hurt each other More...
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Sep 07, 2010
Joao
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No seguimento de 'Se Isto é um Homem' e 'A Trégua', neste livro Primo Levi fala da extrema complexidade que caracterizou as relações de poder e de convivência nos campos de concentração e de extremínio nazis. Este sobrevivente de Auschwitz questiona-se sobre o modo como o povo alemão se deixou seduzir e iludir por um regime totalitário, e preocupa-se com a dificuldade de transmissão da memória às gerações mais novas que sempre viveram em liberdade. Publicado um ano antes de Primo Levi se ter sui
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Apr 18, 2010
Kristel
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This is not a novel but more of an essay The Drowned and the Saved is an attempt at an analytical approach. The problem of the fallibility of memory, the techniques used by the Nazis to break the will of prisoners, the use of language in the camps and the nature of violence are all studied. It is written by Pimo Levi, an Italian Jew who was in Auschwitz. It is well written. My Levi is an agnostic. He makes reference and quotes many works of literature such as Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain and Maz
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Dec 10, 2008
Libby
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The final masterpiece from Levi is dedicated to examining his remembrances of the Holocaust and the aftermath. His depictions of his fellow survivors and the blind sadism of their captors are rendered in the most vivid light which makes it difficult to read. The most unsettling chapter is the "gray zone," revealing the culpability of those who corroborated with the Nazi regime, including other Jews.
Levi's unwavering account lays all bare as a warning to mankind that it can More...
Levi's unwavering account lays all bare as a warning to mankind that it can More...
Apr 08, 2008
Anne
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I always wanted to read Primo Levi, especially "The Periodic Table". I picked it up a couple of weeks ago for 2 Euros at the British Bookstore in Vienna. While reading this book every night before falling asleep, I was often reminded of one of George Steiner's collection of essays, "Language and Silence." But Levi's book is far more confrontational and without compromise. The chapter entitled "Communicating" was especially compelling. Levi writes, of those in the ca
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Mar 09, 2011
Vito
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I sommersi e i salvati, che era fra l'altro il titolo che Levi aveva pensato per Se questo è un uomo, è un libro speculare al primo pubblicato da Levi, e in un certo senso lo completa: se il primo è segnato da un'urgente e giusta esigenza di raccontare, questo è ragionato, e non si basa tanto sul racconto dell'esperienza diretta dell'autore, quanto sulle riflessioni su Auschwitz, permesse anche dai molti decenni trascorsi intanto.
Mar 15, 2010
Natalie
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Wow. This novel is different from any other that I've read on the Holocaust, and I've read quite a few. Levi told his story through narrative in "Survival in Auschwitz" but in "The Drowned and the Saved," he's taking a look back at that and his other works, and his experience in general. This book is worth reading for everyone because of Levi's articulate and well-thought out points about the Holocaust, but especially insightful for someone who's been interested in the sub
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Aug 06, 2011
I found this work thought provoking. It questions how as ordinary citizens we can be deceived or maybe choose to ignore or accept the horrors around us. Whilst it focuses on the horrors of the holocaust it identifies how even today we continue to ignore the atrocities we hear of, maybe because it is too painful to deal with the reality and continue to live our day to day lives.
Jan 16, 2009
Vince
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I should reread a lot of the Primo Levi books, I have such a terrible memory. But this is one of the ones where he struggles with the memories of how random and unfair it was that he survived, and deals with the guilt for anything he did to survive that may have come at the expense of another prisoner.
May 26, 2011
Steve
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This book stands on its own, aside from Primo's first two books. The statements he makes here about man's conditioning and reaction to the dehumanizing methods applied to the Lagers really make for some pivoting reading. I could read a quote or two, but it's hard to pick a sentence - you need to pick a paragraph, but then that doesn't quite cover what he is stating, so pick a chapter.. but.. you get my point.
Dec 13, 2008
Jennifer
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I feel Levi described in great detail the way man is and was during the Holocaust and even after. The world in which he lived and survived is nothing anyone has ever experienced and he described it in such vivid detail.
Mar 29, 2008
Jason
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This book was my first introduction to Primo Levi's work and his very last written shortly before his death. A collection of thoughts and observations on the Holocaust and mankind's culpability in such genocidal attrocities, it is profound and unique in its ability to explain the seemingly unexplainable...why. Although his answers are by no means complete, Levi's words are penetrating and move to the heart of what made the Holocaust a reality.
As a book it is written with great beaut More...
As a book it is written with great beaut More...
Feb 03, 2009
Shellie (Layers of Thought)
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I read this for a college class. It was insightful into the nature of human forgiveness. I need to re-read this.
Jan 28, 2011
Kris
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A worthwhile, if somewhat difficult (in an emotional sense), read. One of the best explorations as to 'why' the individuals at the centre of the Holocaust - perpetrators and victims - was allowed to happen.
In some respects, the apex of Levi's career as a public intellectual.
In some respects, the apex of Levi's career as a public intellectual.
Feb 22, 2010
Goodson
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Primo Levi's last book. Maybe an addendum to "Survival in Auschwitz". Read that first, than this one.
Jun 21, 2011
Tj
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If there's a braver book, I've not read it or heard about it. 5 stars + all the rest.
May 03, 2009
Edward
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This book puts lie the simplistic view of the Holocaust we grew up with in films like "Life is Beautiful."
Apr 25, 2011
Deanne
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Thought provoking book about how Levi survived Auschwitz and what he felt following liberation, even years later.
Jan 06, 2008
Jess
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This book is rattling, gripping. Primo Levi was a brilliant mind & isn't afraid to highlight the complexities of banal human nature. A look inside the Nazi concentration camps, Levi writes as a survivor who denies being a victim. The only pure were the ones who died because the ones who survived must have done something terrible to keep living. Real in the most chilling way: we can never escape the evil that waits in our breasts. Levi was known for being an optimistic philosopher, but this
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Aug 09, 2007
Steel
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This was the final book published by Levi before his death in 1987. It contains a kind of summation of his views on Hitlerian Germany, his experiences in the Auschwitz Arbeitslager and afterwards, and a continuation of some of the ideas he had introduced in earlier works (the title comes from a distinction he had made between two types of prisoners in a chapter of Survival in Auschwitz). This is a heartwrenching collection of essays written in Levi's typical tone, objective, piercing, and full
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Dec 01, 2011
Tobie
rated it:
sorry to see such a person who gave so much,lose themselves.the world is such a darker place with primo not here.
