The Search For Roots: A Personal Anthology (Primo Levi (Author), Italo Calvino (Afterword), Ivan R. Dee, 2002)

From Library Journal

In 1981, noted author and Holocaust survivor Levi (1919-86; The Periodic Table) edited this anthology of 30 short excerpts from works that were especially important to him. They are basically arranged in the order he read them himself and point to four main themes, delineated in the preface: salvation through laughter, our unjust suffering, our stature as human beings, and salvation through knowledge. These four aspects of Levi's reading possessed him both as a writer and as a man. The book covers such major writers as Homer, Rabelais, Jonathan Swift, T.S. Eliot, and Thomas Mann. Science writing (e.g., Charles Darwin, Arthur C. Clarke, Ludwig Gattermann) and Jewish life in 20th-century Europe (Levi's great subject, represented by writers like Isaac Babel and Sholem Aleichem) are also represented. Especially noteworthy are the excerpts from lesser-known Italian writers (e.g., Carlo Porta, Giuseppe Parini). Not only are the selections themselves illuminating but Levi's preface and head notes are invaluable additions to the writings of this author of reason, morality, and honesty. The introduction by Forbes, the editor of Poetry Review, and afterword by Italo Calvino further explain the anthology. Highly recommended for literature and Jewish Studies collections. Gene Shaw, NYPL
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Levi, who committed suicide in 1987, said that he felt more naked and exposed to the public in making the choices for this "personal anthology" of his favorite reading than in writing his own books, including his memoirs of surviving Auschwitz. Lifelong readers will recognize Levi's passion to share what he's read, the favorite books he keeps on the same shelf, all profusely underlined, and his discovery that his deeper and more lasting loves are the hardest to explain. Originally published in Italy in 1981 and now translated into English for the first time, the anthology includes an insightful new introduction by translator Forbes, who points out how Levi's 30 selections reflect his hybrid self, connecting reading that could not be more heterogeneous, from the humorous Jewish writer Sholem Aleichem to scientific theory about black holes. Most readers will be less interested in the selections themselves than in what Levi says about each of them and what they reveal about his life. Recommend this with Carole Angier's new biography of Levi, The Double Bond [BKL Ap 1 02]. Hazel Rochman
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