PRIMO LEVI was born in Turin in 1919 to an Italian-Jewish family. Arrested as a member of the anti-Fascist resistance, he was deported to Auschwitz in 1944. After the war, Levi resumed his careers as a chemist and a writer in Turin until his untimely death in 1987. During his writing career, Levi won every distinguished prize in his native Italy. The Periodic Table, the first of his books to appear in America, was selected as one of the Best Books of 1985 by The New York Times Book Review.

"I immersed myself in The Periodic Table gladly and gratefully. There is nothing superfluous here, everything this book contains is essential. It is wonderful pure, and beautifully translated...I was deeply impressed." -Saul Bellow

"The best introduction to the psychological world of one of the most important and gifted writers of our time."-Italo Calvino

"A work of healing, of tranquil, even buoyant imagination." -The New York Times Book Review

"Brilliant, grave and oddly sunny; certainly a masterpiece." -Los Angeles Times

"Every chapter is full of surprises, insights, high humor, and language that often rises to poetry." -The New Yorker

"One of the most important Italian writers." -Umberto Eco

Publisher: Schocken Books Inc

Pub date: 1995-04-04

Length: 256 pages