The Periodic Table

Published in Italian in 1975, first published in English in 1984, this brilliant volume of personal, social and political autobiography consists of 21 chapters, each named after a chemical element. Primo Levi (1919-87) intersperses scenes from his life with essays, fables and dream-like sequences. The Periodic Table conforms to the plan of a born writer who was also born more human than most beings are. As an industrial chemist in Fascist Italy, Levi joined a Partisan group. After his capture by Nazi militia, he was sent to work at a chemical plant in Auschwitz and survived. That a man can emerge from Auschwitz and then analyse the phenomenon with art and wisdom is wonderful. But after that, if he can still find it in himself to write about other things - love, science, and the 'nobility of man' - as Levi does here, it's genius. (Kirkus UK)