Primo Levi's "Periodic Table" at 50: Scientists and Writers Speak
On the 50th anniversary of Primo Levi's Periodic Table, a celebration of the book from many perspectives. Scientists, translators, and writers come together to address the impact of this influential memoir/collection of stories.
"The triumph of human identity and worth over the pathology of human destruction glows virtually everywhere in Levi’s writing," said Toni Morrison.
Levi (1919–1987) observed his life—his Italian Jewish community, his time as a chemist and as a partisan, and then his imprisonment in Auschwitz—with wry humor, compassion, and the lucidity of a scientist doing a lab report.
Speakers:
Elena Aprile (Centennial Professor of Physics; Director of the Italian Academy, Columbia)
Andrea Capra (Assistant Professor of Italian Studies, NYU)
Cristiano Galbiati (Professor of Physics, Princeton)
Ann Goldstein (Translator; Editor of The Complete Works of Primo Levi)
Jhumpa Lahiri (Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing, Barnard; Winner of the Pulitzer Prize)
Christian M. Rojas (Professor of Chemistry, Barnard)
Please click here to register.
Check-in for registrants begins 30 minutes before the event.
This event is in-person only.
The organizers do not intend to make a video recording for publication.
Produced by the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies, Columbia University
Co-sponsored by the Creative Writing Program of the Barnard College English Department and by the Barnard Chemistry Department