n chemistMendeleyev's periodical table of elements as the base of autobiographical meditations, each named for a chemical element,where among others 'Vanadium' represents his unexpected encounter with a former official Auschwitz and 'Zinc' explorers thefascist myth of racial purity. SE NON ORA, QUANDO? (1989) combined the emergence of Jewish consciousness and pridewith the historical documentation of action taken on the Russian front by partisan Jewish groups against retreating Nazi forces. Levi died in Turin on April 11, 1987. His death was apparently a suicide - in his home building Levi hurled himself down thecentral stairwell. The last work he completed was the essay collection I SOMMERSI E I SALVATI (1986). In it Levi madeone last attempt to clarify his life's writing and affirms his belief in the historical uniqueness of the Holocaust, while not separatingit from the horrors in Cambodia or South Africa. The central question is according to Levi, how much of the camp is alive andwell in our time, and how long it will remain in our memories. For further reading: Understanding Primo Levi by Nicholas Patruno (1995); At an Uncertain Hour: Primo Levi's WarAgainst Oblivion by Anthony Rudolf (1990); A Dante of Our Time: Primo Levi and Auschwitz by Risa Sodi (1990);Conversations with Primo Levi by Ferdinando Camon (1989)Selected works: SE QUESTO UN UOMO, 1947 - If This is a Man / Survival in Auschwitz -Tllainenko on ihminen, suom. Tapio Hiisivaara LA TREGUA, 1963 - The Truce / The Reawakening (suomessa muokattu kuunnelmaksi nimelt Aselepo) STORIE NATURALI, 1966 - The Sixth Day VIZIO DI FORMA, 1971 L'OSTERIA DI BREMA, 1975 (republ. as Ad ora incerta) - Colelcted Poems IL SISTEMA PERIODICO, 1975 - The Periodic Table - Jaksollinen jrjestelm LA CHIAVE A STELLA, 1978 - The Monkey Wrench LILIT, E ALTRI RACCONTI, 1981 - Moments of Reprieve LA RICERA DELLE RADICI. ANTOLOGIA PERSONALE, 1981 SE ...
