This half-day symposium brings together an array of international scholars and writers engaged with the history, literature, and impact of Primo Levi, a chemist, writer, and humanist who survived Auschwitz and, through his writing, provided generations of students and scholars with the philosophical language to understand the Shoah—and the modern condition. The symposium celebrates the publication, in 2015, of Levi’s complete works in English (by translator Ann Goldstein, published by W. W. Norton) and probes the literary, philosophical, and historical legacy of Levi. 

You may find the attached program here.

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UCLA FACULTY CENTER, CALIFORNIA ROOM 

11AM  INTRODUCTION BY CONVENERS 

TODD SAMUEL PRESNER| UCLA  

MICHAEL ROTHBERG | UCLA  

SARAH ABREVAYA STEIN | UCLA 

11:15AM  SESSION 1: THE LEGACIES OF ITALIAN JEWISH HISTORY  

Chair: SARAH ABREVAYA STEIN | UCLA  

ANDREW VITERBI | UC San Diego (Emeritus)  

•    My Cousin, Primo Levi  

SERGIO LUZZATTO | University in Turin, Italy  

•    Reluctant Veteran: Primo Levi’s Position in Postwar Italy  

12:30PM  LUNCH BREAK  

1:30PM  SESSION 2: TESTIMONY & TRANSLATION  

Chair: STEF CRAPS | Ghent  

JONATHAN DRUKER | Illinois State University  

•    Levi’s ‘Shame of the Just’: On Ethical and Political Resistance after State Violence  

LINA INSANA | University of Pittsburgh  

•    ‘The Language They Spoke Together was German’: Translating the Scene of Bad Science in Levi’s Science Fiction  

3PM  BREAK  

3:30PM  SESSION 3: THE POLITICS OF THE PRESENT  

Chair: MICHAEL ROTHBERG | UCLA  

SIMONA FORTI | Università del Piemonte Orientale, Italy  

•    Primo Levi’s Hidden Philosophy of Power  

ENZO TRAVERSO | Cornell University  

•    Beyond the Holocaust: Primo Levi and the Public Use of the Past  

5PM  WINE & CHEESE RECEPTION (WITH BOOK SALE)  

5:30PM  KEYNOTE ADDRESS: THE ART AND CRAFT OF TRANSLATION  

ANN GOLDSTEIN | Translator