[E6U]∎ PDF Free The Periodic Table Everyman Library Contemporary Classics Series Primo Levi Raymond Rosenthal Books

The Periodic Table Everyman Library Contemporary Classics Series Primo Levi Raymond Rosenthal Books

Download As PDF : The Periodic Table Everyman Library Contemporary Classics Series Primo Levi Raymond Rosenthal Books

The Periodic Table Everyman Library Contemporary Classics Series Primo Levi Raymond Rosenthal Books

Primo Levi, similar to Elie Wiesel, is so closely associated in my mind with The Holocaust, and Holocaust literature, that I was surprised to find that in THE PERIODIC TABLE, Levi rarely touches on it directly. And yet, as a memoir of his life as a chemist both before and after Auschwitz, the entire book is freighted with the knowledge of his time in the camps; similar, perhaps, to a biography of a man born with a serious birth defect, and how this background knowledge forces the reader to reevaluate the simple tasks of living that he'd previously taken for granted. Simultaneously, as a part of Levi's entire oeuvre, I also had the feeling that THE PERIODIC TABLE was a statement, an affirmation by Levi, who HAD become associated so closely with The Holocaust, saying, in effect, `I am not Auschwitz. I am a chemist.'

Regardless, as others have noted, THE PERIODIC TABLE is a collection of stories--some true and some fiction, and each tied to one of the elements of the Periodic Table by some detail in the story. For instance, the first chapter, titled `Argon', contains a brief explanation of the group of gases that Argon belongs to--The Noble Gases:

"There are the so-called inert gases...They bear curious Greek names of erudite derivation which mean `the New,' `the Hidden,' `the Inactive,' and `the Alien.' They are indeed so inert, so satisfied with their condition, that they do not interfere in any chemical reaction, do not combine with any other element, and for precisely this reason have gone undetected for centuries."

Levi then goes on to interweave anecdotes about the Jewish community he knew growing up as a child in Italy, and one quickly picks up on the association between the Noble gases and this community. Most of the rest of the stories are not quite so allegorically tied to the elemental heading, though there always remains a hint of it. The early chapters I thought were dense and philosophical, which surprised me for some reason, though I either grew accustomed to Levi's style, or the stories became more straightforward as the book went on. I also found that after the initial pages, I thought the book captivating--which, again, given the episodic nature of the stories, was surprising. The long and the short of it is that, although I expected to enjoy the book, I enjoyed it for none of the reasons I suspected I would.

It is not an easy book to categorize. Part fiction, part memoir; little direct mention of The Holocaust, and yet the book is entirely infused with it--I hesitate to call it unique, but I do think it stands apart. A very intriguing book.


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The Periodic Table Everyman Library Contemporary Classics Series Primo Levi Raymond Rosenthal Books Reviews

Primo Levi was a clever young man and he wanted you to know that. His use of members of the Periodic Table as a device to illuminate his characters is sometimes an overreach, sometimes silly and sometimes well honed. That he had intense experiences and met many people worthy of a good story, is not in dispute. As a writer and as a character in his own stories, he made me wish I'd known him as a friend.
No, this book will not teach you what you missed in Chem 101. It is instead a stirring memoir of an Italian Jew ,a chemist, who survived the years of Italian Fascism and the subsequent Nazi occupation, by the the force of his creativity and sensitivity to the harrowing events that befell him. The memoir feels like a set of short stories. Each chapter is named for a chemical element.
The use of this device was incredibly creative. In one case, Chapter 2 Hydrogen, the author recounts his teenage adventure with a friend, that generated hydrogen from water. In another chapter, Iron, the author describes his best friend and their mountain adventures. The friend seemed to have the qualities of Iron. Just as the elements have personalities- that is, they share, steal or give up electrons to form bonds with other elements, people also have personalities- resilient, affiliative, inert- and Dr. Levi draws parallels between these chemical and human personalities.
And what stories he has to tell. A romance that might have been. Surviving a death camp by making flints for cigarette lighters. Uncovering a Nazi in a postwar business relationship. 3 amazing chapters which are wholly works of fantasy- not biography at all. The last chapter is a chemical story, the story of one element without a human subtext, the most important element to life on earth.
The book is a tour de force, and a tribute to the fascination of scientific inquiry and experiment.
Periodic table' is a chemist's blueprint of the fascinating elements that make up our world. It was insightful to read this biographical account by Primo Levi, a Jewish chemist in Auschwitz, both during and thankfully after Nazi atrocity. True to its name, the focus is on his adventures with chemistry - chemistry as a man's passion, as well as a means to sustain in a big bad world. Reading about chapters on different elements definitely piqued this organic chemist's interest. It was a down memory lane on archaic inorganic analysis from B.Sc. days. Admittedly decades back during the author's time, exposure awareness and safety concerns were near non-existant and some of Levi's trysts were jaw-dropping to me as a modern practitioner (much akin to walking a tightrope without safety net!). Life of a chemist in a very difficult historical period, synthesized out of various "element"al chapters - awesome!
What can a little Midwest housewife write about Primo Levi? These autobiographical chapters, each bearing the name of a chemical element as a title, and interspersed with short stories, a written with a deft yet delicate touch, referring to but not dwelling on the horror Levi's experience as an inmate of Auschwitz. Touching in a completely unsentimental way, beautiful, really.
Primo Levi, similar to Elie Wiesel, is so closely associated in my mind with The Holocaust, and Holocaust literature, that I was surprised to find that in THE PERIODIC TABLE, Levi rarely touches on it directly. And yet, as a memoir of his life as a chemist both before and after Auschwitz, the entire book is freighted with the knowledge of his time in the camps; similar, perhaps, to a biography of a man born with a serious birth defect, and how this background knowledge forces the reader to reevaluate the simple tasks of living that he'd previously taken for granted. Simultaneously, as a part of Levi's entire oeuvre, I also had the feeling that THE PERIODIC TABLE was a statement, an affirmation by Levi, who HAD become associated so closely with The Holocaust, saying, in effect, `I am not Auschwitz. I am a chemist.'

Regardless, as others have noted, THE PERIODIC TABLE is a collection of stories--some true and some fiction, and each tied to one of the elements of the Periodic Table by some detail in the story. For instance, the first chapter, titled `Argon', contains a brief explanation of the group of gases that Argon belongs to--The Noble Gases

"There are the so-called inert gases...They bear curious Greek names of erudite derivation which mean `the New,' `the Hidden,' `the Inactive,' and `the Alien.' They are indeed so inert, so satisfied with their condition, that they do not interfere in any chemical reaction, do not combine with any other element, and for precisely this reason have gone undetected for centuries."

Levi then goes on to interweave anecdotes about the Jewish community he knew growing up as a child in Italy, and one quickly picks up on the association between the Noble gases and this community. Most of the rest of the stories are not quite so allegorically tied to the elemental heading, though there always remains a hint of it. The early chapters I thought were dense and philosophical, which surprised me for some reason, though I either grew accustomed to Levi's style, or the stories became more straightforward as the book went on. I also found that after the initial pages, I thought the book captivating--which, again, given the episodic nature of the stories, was surprising. The long and the short of it is that, although I expected to enjoy the book, I enjoyed it for none of the reasons I suspected I would.

It is not an easy book to categorize. Part fiction, part memoir; little direct mention of The Holocaust, and yet the book is entirely infused with it--I hesitate to call it unique, but I do think it stands apart. A very intriguing book.