If This Is a Man

If This is a Man  

Original First Edition cover
Author(s) Primo Levi
Original title Se questo è un uomo
Translator Stuart Woolf
Country Italy
Language Italian
Genre(s) Autobiographical novel
Publisher De Silva (Italian)
The Orion Press (English)
Publication date 1947
Published in
English		 1958
Pages 179 pp
ISBN 880631369x 0349100136
OCLC Number 17221240

If This Is a Man (Italian title: Se questo è un uomo; United States title Survival in Auschwitz) is a work by the Italian writer, Primo Levi, describing his 11 months—from February 21, 1944 until liberation on January 27, 1945—in the German concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland, during the Second World War. The book is described as a memoir, but it goes beyond mere recollection by seeking to consider in narrative form the human condition in all its extremes.[1]

Contents

Publication

The first manuscript for If This Is a Man was completed by Levi in December 1946. In January 1947, the manuscript was refused by Einaudi. Levi managed to find another, smaller publisher, De Silva, who printed 2,500 copies of the book, 1,500 of which were sold, mostly in his home town of Turin. In 1958, Einaudi published the work in a revised form. On this occasion, the book had major worldwide success. It was translated into English that year by Stuart Woolf, and into German by Heinz Reidt in 1959. Both translations were completed under the observation of Levi. The German edition of If This Is A Man contains a special preface addressed to the German people, which Levi said he wrote out of passionate necessity to remind them of what they had done.[2]

If This Is a Man is often published with Primo Levi's second work of witness, The Truce (Italian title: La Tregua).

Invocation

This poem introduces the book. The curious construction "If .." invites the reader to make a judgement. It alludes to the treatment of people as untermensch (German for sub-human), as well as Levi's subsequent examination of the degree to which it was possible for a prisoner in Auschwitz to retain his or her humanity. The poem explains the title and sets a main theme of the book; humanity in the midst of inhumanity. The last part of the poem, beginning "meditate" explains Levi's purpose in having written it: to record what happened so that successive generations may be able to ponder (a more literal translation of meditare) the significance of the events which he lived through. It also parallels the language of the V'ahavta, the Jewish prayer that commands followers to remember and pass on the teachings of their faith.

Voi che vivete sicuri You who live safe
Nelle vostre tiepide case In your warm houses,
voi che trovate tornando a sera You who find, returning in the evening,
Il cibo caldo e visi amici: Hot food and friendly faces:
Considerate se questo è un uomo Consider if this is a man
Che lavora nel fango Who works in the mud,
Che non conosce pace Who does not know peace,
Che lotta per mezzo pane Who fights for a scrap of bread,
Che muore per un sì o per un no. Who dies because of a yes or a no.
Considerate se questa è una donna Consider if this is a woman
Senza capelli e senza nome Without hair and without name,
Senza più forza di ricordare With no more strength to remember,
Vuoti gli occhi e freddo il grembo Her eyes empty and her womb cold
Come una rana d'inverno. Like a frog in winter.
Meditate che questo è stato Meditate that this came about.
Vi comando queste parole. I commend these words to you.
Scolpitele nel vostro cuore Carve them in your hearts,
Stando in casa andando per via At home, in the street,
Coricandovi alzandovi Going to bed, rising;
Ripetetele ai vostri figli. Repeat them to your children.
O vi si sfaccia la casa Or may your house fall apart,
La malattia vi impedisca May illness impede you,
I vostri nati torcano il viso da voi May your children turn their faces from you.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Benchouiha 2006.
  2. ^ The Drowned and the Saved (Italian title: I Sommersi e i Salvati)

References

Further reading

  • Alford, Frederick (31 May 2009). After the Holocaust: Primo Levi, The Book of Job, and the Path to Affliction. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521747066. 
  • Patruno, Nicholas (2008). Understanding Primo Levi. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 1570037914. 
  • Gordon, Robert S. C. (2007). The Cambridge Companion to Primo Levi. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052184357X. 
  • Pugliese, Stanislao G. (2004). The Legacy of Primo Levi. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1403966451. 
  • Farrell, Joseph (2004). Primo Levi: The Austere Humanist. Verlag Peter Lang. ISBN 3039100696. 
  • Thomson, Ian (2003). Primo Levi: A Biography. Vintage. ISBN 0099515210. 
  • Angier, Carole (2003). The Double Bond: Primo Levi, a Biography. Penguin Books Ltd. ISBN 0140165878. 
  • Kremer, Roberta S. (2001). Memory and Mastery: Primo Levi as Writer and Witnes. State University of New York Press. ISBN 079144922X. 
  • Anissimov, Myriam (2000). Primo Levi: Tragedy of an Optimist. Overlook Press. ISBN 1585670200. 
  • Cicioni, Mirna (1995). Primo Levi: Bridges of Knowledge. Berg Publishers. ISBN 1859730639. 
  • Camon, Ferdinando (1991). Conversations with Primo Levi. The Marlboro Press. ISBN 0910395489. 
  • Vincenti, Fiora (1981). Primo Levi. Milan: Mursia. 
Works by Primo Levi
Novels
Short story collections
Essay collections
Poetry
Non-fiction