Reading Primo Levi: Essays in Dialogue with Nicholas Patruno - Edited by Roberta Ricci e Chiara Benetollo

This 266-page, double peer-reviewed volume features an introduction by Roberta Ricci and Chiara Benetollo and ten scholarly essays authored by leading experts on Primo Levi. It honors the legacy of Nicholas Patruno (1941–2020) and builds upon the symposium Understanding Primo Levi, held at Bryn Mawr College on April 22, 2022 (USA). The volume both continues and expands the critical dialogue initiated at the symposium, offering fresh insights into the major themes of Patruno’s research on Levi.

The collection opens a profusion of pathways into and through Primo Levi’s writings by offering perspectives that are at once historical and theoretical, archival and contemporary. It aims to reenergize scholarly conversations, academic research, intellectual debates, and classroom syllabi—not only to confront the enduring dangers of fascism and antisemitism today, but also to highlight the enduring power, creativity, and originality of Levi’s literary voice.

A substantial appendix enriches the volume with several noteworthy materials: the complete version—including previously unpublished variants—of Interview with Eugenio Montale (May 6, 1976) by Nicholas Patruno, edited by Roberta Ricci; the unpublished correspondence between Primo Levi and Umberto Saba (1948), edited by Luca Zipoli; an original musical composition inspired by The Periodic Table, titled To Compose a Life: The Periodic Table’s Musical Translation; and a partial retranslation and critical analysis of Levi’s essay on François Rabelais from Other People’s Trades.

The volume is available in open access and can be consulted here.