Keywords
Primo Levi, L’altrui mestiere, Other People’s Trades, self-identity, Heimlich, Unheimlich
Abstract
Primo Levi reveals much about himself in the fifty-one short essays of L’altrui mestiere (Other People’s Trades). This study analyzes L’altrui mestiere as the awareness of the “self” through the observation of “otherness” — other people, but also other living beings which are not human (mammalian animals and insects), others as minerals, and others as hypotheses, theories, writings, microcosmic or macrocosmic conceptions that Levi uses to weave a discourse of “alterity” as a mirror of “identity.” L’altrui mestiere’s narrative pattern revolves around contrasts and comparisons between the familiar and the unfamiliar, the canny and the uncanny, the Heimlich against the Unheimlich. Ultimately, Other People’s Trades sends a powerful, positive, universal message of respect and compassion about the human condition and enforces the natural curiosity about getting to know better who and what surrounds us.
https://www.nemla.org/content/dam/www/nemla/nis/xlv/NIS_Vol_XLV_2024-Primo_Levi_Special_Issue.pdf
Original Publication Citation
Klein, Ilona. "Alterity as a Mirror of Identity: Primo Levi's Self Representation in Other People's Trade." Primo Levi: Essays in Dialogue with Nicholas Patruno. Eds. Chiara Benetollo and Roberta Ricci. NeMLA Italian Studies, vol. XLV, 2024, pp. 152-169.
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Klein, Ilona, "Alterity as a Mirror of Identity: Primo Levi’s Self Representation in Other People’s Trades" (2024). Faculty Publications. 7342.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/7342
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2024
Publisher
NeMLA Italian Studies
Language
English
College
Humanities
Department
French and Italian
Copyright Use Information
https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/