Keywords

poetry, Primo Levi, American poetry, trauma

Abstract

Most North American readers have come to know and appreciate Primo Levi by his major works in prose. His The Periodic Table (1984) catapulted Levi onto the American stage of scientific-humanistic authors, having the New York Times named it among the Best Books of the Year in 1985. Instead, American readers will likely stumble upon Levi’s poetry by accident, simply because every now and then one of his poems in translation appears in print somewhere. Compared to Levi’s prose, his poems inevitably evoke a sense of unease, for their tone, their style and their content are so unlike the familiar, reasoned approach we have come to experience in his works in prose. Levi’s authorial voice shifts dramatically between his prose works and his verse.

Original Publication Citation

Klein, I. "Trauma and Poetry. The Case of Primo Levi," Il Pietrisco, No. 1, June 2022.