Consider If This Is a Man: Primo Levi and the Figure of Ulysses

This essay offers a new interpretation of the work of Primo Levi and its significance as testimony to Auschwitz and thinking about the survivor. Tracing the place and role of Ulysses as a literary figure narrating war and survival in Levi's work, the essay uncovers an additional, figurative layer of meaning that contrasts with that of the comprehending humanist. The readings in the essay range from Primo Levi's earliest work, +If This Is a Man=, to his last book, +The Drowned and the Saved=, engaging many of his lesser-known publications. Theoretical works and closely read intertextualities uncover an angry writer who is less conciliatory than we might have hoped. The classic figure of Ulysses is shown to play an important part in Levi's literary construction of his return from Auschwitz, inevitably read in light of his suicide.