Summary of The Periodic Table
“The Periodic Table” is a collection of 21 short stories by Primo Levi, of which 19 are autobiographical and 2 fictional. Each story is named after a chemical element that plays a role in the narrative. The early stories recount Levi’s youth in Turin, his university studies in chemistry, his first professional experiences, and the increasing difficulties he faced as a Jew under Mussolini’s racial laws. The stories then move to his anti-Fascist activities during the war, his arrest, his imprisonment in the camps of Fossoli and Auschwitz, and ultimately his post-war life as a chemist.
Reasons to read The Periodic Table
“The Periodic Table” is a highly original and insightful collection of stories that sheds light on the life and experiences of a chemist in mid-twentieth-century Italy. Levi views life through the lens of chemistry, linking scientific ideas to personal memories, from his youth and education to his wartime experiences, his imprisonment in Auschwitz, and his life after the war. The book was named the best science book ever written by the British Royal Institution. As an author, Primo Levi remains best known for his memoir of Auschwitz, “If This is a Man”. Other notable works by Levi include “The Periodic Table”, “The Wrench” (winner of the Premio Strega in 1979), “The Drowned and the Saved”, and “If Not Now, When?” (winner of both the Premio Campiello and the Premio Viareggio in 1982).
Setting: Turin and other places (Italy)
The stories in “The Periodic Table” are set in various places, including Turin, the Piedmont Alps, Milan, the Fossoli di Carpi transit camp, Auschwitz, and post-war Turin. Browse books set in Northern Italy.
Original title: Il sistema periodico
Year of publication: 1975
Nr of pages: 256
