A Tranquil Star: Unpublished Stories - Hardcover

Levi, Primo

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0713999551 ISBN 13: 9780713999556

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2007

Synopsis

Profound, moving and compassionate, Primo Levi was one of the most astonishing voices to emerge from the twentieth century. Here, for the first time in English, on the twentieth anniversary of his death, is a landmark selection of his fiction - all in brand new translations.

These exquisitely wrought stories open up a rich, vibrant world of wonder, adventure, resistance, love, cruelty and visceral energy, where nothing is as it seems. In 'The Fugitive' an office worker composes the most beautiful poem ever, only to find events taking on a strange life of their own; in @Magic Paint' a group of reserachers develop a paint that mysteriously protects them from misfortune, but dangerously miscalculate the outcome. In 'Gladiators' and 'The Knall' Primo Levi chillingly explores modern-day mass violence, while in 'Fra Diavolo ion the Po' he gives a fascinating account of military service in fascist Italy.

Sometimes dark and haunting, sometimes wrily amusing, always rich with arresting images and curious twists of fate, these extraordinary tales are testament to one of the literary masters of our age.

About this title

Review:

'One of the most important and gifted writers of our time'
-- Italo Calvino

"His writing brims with metaphorical reflection and a love of
storytelling" -- Metro

"This is a fascinating collection [...] Reminds us of what a
marvellously varied writer was lost to the world that Easter weekend of
April 1987." -- The Daily Telegraph

'In Levi's writing, nothing is superfluous and everything is
essential' -- Saul Bellow

'The infinite and the ineffable, portrayed with singular wit and
charm'
-- Starred Kirkus Review

In Levi's writing, nothing is superfluous and everything is
essential -- Saul Bellow

Magically endearing, the most delicately forceful enchanter I've
known -- Philip Roth

About the Author:

Primo Levi, born in Turin, Italy, in 1919, and trained as a chemist, was arrested during the Second World War as a member of the anti-Fascist resistance and deported to Auschwitz in 1944. His experience in the death camp and his subsequent travels through Eastern Europe were the subject of powerful memoirs, fiction and poetry. Levi died in Turin in April 1987.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0713999551
• ISBN 13: 9780713999556
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 176