{"product_id":"primo-levi-the-matter-of-a-life-9780300137231","title":"Primo Levi: The Matter of a Life","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, the first intellectual biography of Primo Levi to describe the intersection of his roles as both chemist and writer\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In 1943, twenty-four-year-old Primo Levi had just begun a career in chemistry when, after joining a partisan group, he was captured by the Italian Fascist Militia and deported to Auschwitz. Of the 650 Italian Jews in his transport, he was one of fewer than 25 who survived the eleven months before the camp's liberation. Upon returning to his native Turin, Levi resumed work as a chemist and was employed for thirty years by a company specializing in paints and other chemical coatings. Yet soon after his return to Turin, he also began writing--memoirs, essays, novels, short stories, poetry--and it is for this work that he has won international recognition. His first book, \u003ci\u003eIf This Is a Man\u003c\/i\u003e, issued in 1947 after great difficulty in finding a publisher, remains a landmark document of the twentieth century. Berel Lang's groundbreaking biography shines new light on Levi's role as a major intellectual and literary figure--an important Holocaust writer and witness but also an innovative moral thinker in whom his two roles as chemist and writer converged, providing the \"matter\" of his life. Levi's writing combined a scientist's attentiveness to structure and detail, an ironic imagination that found in all nature an ingenuity at once inviting and evasive, and a powerful and passionate moral imagination. Lang's approach provides a philosophically acute and nuanced analysis of Levi as thinker, witness, writer, and scientific detective. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout Jewish Lives: \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Jewish Lives is a prizewinning series of interpretative biography designed to explore the many facets of Jewish identity. Individual volumes illuminate the imprint of Jewish figures upon literature, religion, philosophy, politics, cultural and economic life, and the arts and sciences. Subjects are paired with authors to elicit lively, deeply informed books that explore the range and depth of the Jewish experience from antiquity to the present. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In 2014, the Jewish Book Council named Jewish Lives the winner of its Jewish Book of the Year Award, the first series ever to receive this award. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eMore praise for Jewish Lives: \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Excellent.\" -New York Times \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Exemplary.\" -Wall Street Journal \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Distinguished.\" -New Yorker \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Superb.\" -The Guardian\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Yale University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/26\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780300137231\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 192\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.79lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.57h x 6.01w x 0.82d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAward:\u003c\/b\u003e National Jewish Book Award - Winner\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/15\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/15\/2013 pg. 93\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Berel Lang","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43180563792053,"sku":"9780300137231","price":22.1,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_05f6a6a1-ff73-4aee-a743-598c7a8a9d0d.jpg?v=1697515948","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/primo-levi-the-matter-of-a-life-9780300137231","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}