The Search For Roots: A Personal Anthology - Softcover

Levi, Primo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141185554 ISBN 13: 9780141185552

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2002

Synopsis

This is the last complete book published during Levi's lifetime to be translated into English and offers one final look into the mind of one of the most compelling and tragic witnesses of the twentieth century. In THE SEARCH FOR ROOTS, Levi has selected the thirty pieces of prose and poetry most important to him. In doing so, he considers how many of our 'roots' come from the books we've read, and reveals a great deal about both his own tastes and his intellectual preoccupations. Levi's manyfans will be fascinated by the pieces he has chosen - with authors selected ranging from Homer, Swift and Melville to Darwin, Marco Polo and a scientist on Black Holes.

About this title

Review:

'Among all the writers here, Levi himself is one of the most essential; an enduring reminder of the intellectual, spiritual and human values that the dictatorships of the 20th century tried and thankfully failed to extinguish' -- Andrew Crumey, Scotland on Sunday, June 24 2001

'Fascinating as a picture of Levi's cultural landscape' -- Stephanie Merritt The Observer Review, 22 April 2001

'Levi's search for roots is a rediscovery of printed words that helped to form him...most of the extracts seem either to prefigure the Holocaust or to look back on it' -- Ronald Hayman, Daily Telegraph, 23 June 2001

'Primo Levi gives us a voice of reason from beyond the grave' -- Katrina Goldstone Sunday Tribune, June 24 2001

'The Search for Roots is an anatomy of melancholy overcome. It is Primo Levi's best autobiography.' -- Carole Angier, New Statesman, July 23 2001

'This book is a fascinating journey...the reader feels he is observing nothing less than the construction, at times dangerous, careful and uncertain, of a creative consciousness' -- Peter Walker, Financial Times, July 7/July 8 2001

'This invaluable work exposes one of the 20th century's finest minds. It is a dark, disturbing, bright and uplifting book.' -- Ross Leckie, The Times, July 28 2001

'This is a book packed with pleasurable reading, value and, crucially, with profound insight into this most essential of writers and into the interests and experiences that made him so...there is something exquisitely old-fashioned and elegant about this self-portrait in books.' -- Robert S.C. Gordon, Spectator, July 14 2001

'brave, joyful and life enhancing' -- Joseph Farrell, The Herald [quoted in Money Week, July 27 2001]

About the Author:

Primo Levi was born in 1919. During WWII he was captured and deported to Auschwitz, where his skills as a chemist were exploited. After the war, he wrote a number of very graphic and deeply moving books about his experiences - including THE PERIODIC TABLE & MOMENTS OF REPRIEVE. Levi committed suicide in 1987.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0141185554
• ISBN 13: 9780141185552
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256