Primo Levi’s Narratives of Embodiment - 16 - Containing the Human

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Skyler

Primo Levi’s Narratives of Embodiment - Containing the Human examines how Primo Levi’s writing engages with the human body as a site shaped by knowledge, technology, and historical violence. The book surveys ontologies and epistemologies, then traces bodily modifications through themes such as prostheses, technologized bodies, bureaucratic systems, and the reconfiguration of the organic human. Its structured sections include notes on terminology, a detailed citation approach for Levi’s Italian texts, and scholarly apparatus with bibliography and index.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages222

Reading Time5 h 42 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

Part I: Ontologies and Epistemologies

1 Containers and Their Contents

2 Embodying (In/Non-)Humanity

3 Embodied Knowledges and Epistemological Dualism

Part II: Bodily Modiﬁcations and Mutations

Foreword: Thinking of the Future: Science Fiction

4 Bodies, Prostheses, and Sentient Technologies

5 Bureaucratized and Technologized Bodies

6 Close Couplings and Docile Bodies

7 Recombining the Organic Human Body

Conclusions

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Primo Levi’s Narratives of Embodiment Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature 1. Testimony from the Nazi Camps French Women’s Voices Margaret-Anne Hutton 2. Modern Confessional Writing New Critical Essays Edited by Jo Gill 3. Cold War Literature Writing the Global Conﬂict Andrew Hammond 4. Modernism and the Crisis of Sovereignty Andrew John Miller 5. Cartographic Strategies of Postmodernity The Figure of the Map in Contemporary Theory and Fiction Peta Mitchell 6. Food, Poetry, and the Aesthetics of Consumption Eating the Avant-Garde Michel Delville 7. Latin American Writers and the Rise of Hollywood Cinema Jason Borge 8. Gay Male Fiction Since Stonewall Ideology, Conﬂict, and Aesthetics Les Brookes 9. Anglophone Jewish Literature 10. Before Auschwitz Irène Némirovsky and the Cultural Landscape of Inter-war France Angela Kershaw 11. Travel and Drugs in TwentiethCentury Literature Lindsey Michael Banco 12. Diary Poetics Form and Style in Writers’ Diaries, 1915–1962 Anna Jackson 13. Gender, Ireland and Cultural Change Race, Sex and Nation Gerardine Meaney 14. Jewishness and Masculinity from the Modern to the Postmodern Neil R. Davison 15. Travel and Modernist Literature Sacred and Ethical Journeys Alexandra Peat 16. Primo Levi’s Narratives of Embodiment Containing the Human Charlotte Ross Axel Stähler Primo Levi’s Narratives of Embodiment Containing the Human Charlotte Ross New York London First published 2011 by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of [eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk](eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk). © 2011 Taylor & Francis The right of Charlotte Ross to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ross, Charlotte, 1974– Primo Levi’s narratives of embodiment : containing the human / by Charlotte Ross. [p. cm](p. cm).—(Routledge studies in twentieth-century literature ; 16) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Levi, Primo—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Holocaust survivors’ writings—History and criticism. 3. Human body in literature. 4. Mind and body in literature. 5. Humanity in literature. 6. Technology in literature. 7. Human body (Philosophy) I. Title. PQ4872.E8Z865 2011 853'.914—dc22 2010022054 ISBN 0-203-83719-3 Master e-book ISBN ISBN13: 978-0-415-88041-1 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-203-83719-1 (ebk) For all those who struggle with and in their bodies, or whose bodies are made by others into sites of struggle. È evidente che un essere umano è un oggetto tremendamente complicato. It is clear that a human being is a tremendously complicated thing. (Primo Levi) Contents Note on Abbreviations and Translations ix Note on Terminology xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 PART I Ontologies and Epistemologies 1 Containers and Their Contents 23 2 Embodying (In/Non-)Humanity 41 3 Embodied Knowledges and Epistemological Dualism 62 PART II Bodily Mod

FAQs

What central focus does the book take on Primo Levi’s writing?

It focuses on embodiment: how the human body operates as a complex site shaped by knowledge, technology, and historical conditions in Levi’s narratives.

How is the book organized structurally?

It is divided into Part I (Ontologies and Epistemologies) and Part II (Bodily Modiﬁcations and Mutations), followed by conclusions, notes, bibliography, and an index.

How does the book handle citations from Levi’s Italian works?

Citations from Levi’s Italian are drawn from the two-volume 1997 edition of Opere and use abbreviated references (I and II) with guidance for terminology and translation choices.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Skyler