#NonFicNov Primo Levi
- Author: Primo Levi
- Title: The Drowned and the Saved (170 pg) 1986
- Genre: non-fiction (memoir)
- #NonFicNov
Notes:
- Impressive quote from Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner
- “Since then, at an uncertain hour,
- That agony returns,
- And till my ghastly tale is told
- This heart within me burns.”
- I have no idea what Primo Levi will reveal but I need to
- hear it…especially now.
- I’m prepared for an emotionally powerful book.
- It is going to be difficult to get through but…
- ..my coffee is ready and so am I.
Conclusion:
- Once I started on page one Sunday morining I read the entire day.
- The book is a gem that should be read by everybody.
- No, there are no descriptions of
- …stomach churning atrosities but something worse.
- Primo Levi describes what happened after the Germans voted for Hitler.
- 12 years of tyrany…and do you know what?
- It can happen again.
- Chapter 3 deals the shame of survival.
- Title: The Drowned (dead) and The Saved (survivors).
- Levi explains in piercing words:
- “The worst survived, that is the fittest,
- …the best all died.”
- The last chapter is THE BEST “Letters From Germany”.
- Levi receives letters from people who finally read the translation
- of his book “Survival in Auschwitz”.
- Levi reacts that there is no denying it
- …Hitler made clear what his ideas were and never concealed it.
- Those who voted for him certainly vote for his ideas. (pg 178)
Last thoughts:
- I felt I was reading a book (1986) that was predicting the future.
- I cannot deny that when reading about Hitler and his “deranged”
- ideas I had to think of Trump and
- his last speeches in Florida and New Hamphire last week.
- Listen to what he is saying…deportation? ….camps?
- Trump Compares Political Foes To ‘Vermin’ On
- ...Veterans Day—Echoing Nazi Propaganda
- Remember this train of thought…
- it only awaits a new buffoon (Trump)
- …who will organize it, legalize it and delcare it necesary and
- …so contaminate the world.
- Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said the
- committee would support former President Trump as the 2024
- GOP presidential nominee if voters were to choose him,
- even if he were convicted of a crime
- People, this is insane.
- This was the last book Primo Levi wrote…he died in 1987.
- I felt he was “sreaming” at the world to NEVER forget what
- happend in Germany…it can happen again.
8 Comments
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NancyElin 
This sounds as though it was probably quite an uncomfortable read in many ways. It’s very scary that we don’t seem to learn from History.
Uncomfortable…but in a good way.
I love your opening Nancy:
“It is going to be difficult to get through but…
my coffee is ready and so am I.”
Love it … and your conclusion is true but of so worrying. Thought this week’s USA elections might give a glimmer of hope? Anyhow, I like the sound of this book.
I’m never going to believe in election polls again. I was duped in 2016…and look what America voted into the White House. I fervently hope that this rhetoric that Trump is spreading is just a dog whistle for his base, cult followers. Rational Americans must realize the danger Trump symbolizes. This book was more of an analysis of what happened in Germany. He mentions that Mein Kampf is in drawers of some people’s night-tables…and they think that it could be handy at some point in time. Thanks for your comment, Sue.
I didn’t want to believe the polls for our recent referendum but unfortunately they were right. However, they aren’t always so we should take them with a grain of salt. Fingers crossed re USA’s 2024 election, eh!
Fingers crossed…
Primo Levi is a profound and confronting writer isn’t he? I read most of his books about 20 yrs ago.
I have kept his quote ” It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say. It can happen, and it can happen everywhere” all this time, to remind myself that we never seem to learn from the mistakes of history. Trump is just another example of this.
Levi also reminds us that “compassion and brutality can coexist in the same individual and in the same moment…” which seems particularly pertinent right now.
Brona, the world must be thankful to have had such an erudite thinker like Primo Levi. He has brought so much comfort to so many. I stumbled onto this book while searching for some reading on our library website. The book is the only copy…transported from “The Seaman’s Library” in Rotterdam to me in Leeuwarden (…way up north). I do hope people will read it…especially during this tense political year 2024…in THE USA and for the world. Thanks so much for your comment.