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Primo Levi - Life and Work: Trauma, Tragedy, Triumph
LW223
| TUE |
| 12 |
| OCT |
Primo Levi’s work is not confined to describing the unimaginable horrors of the camps, but as a writer, novelist and poet he had an astonishing breadth of vision and knowledge and has been called ‘A Dante Of Our Time’. Bernard will try to show how his artistic achievement was a triple triumph that of love over hate, of hope over despair and finally of life and creativity over destruction and death. But above all Levi’s task was to communicate. He was a bridge builder who wrote:
‘I always thought that building bridges is the best job there is because roads go over bridges, and without roads we’d still be like savages. In short, bridges are like the opposite of borders, and borders are where wars start’ (Primo Levi, ‘The Wrench’)
The course will include discussion of the following texts:
• 12 October - Introduction, 'I am a Centaur!'
• 19 October - What is Human Nature? ('Se questo e un uomo', 'If This is a Man?').
• 26 October - The Survivor as novelist ('Se Nom Ora, Quando?, 'If Not Now, When ?)
• 2 November - Poetry and other work ('Ad Ora Incerta', 'At An Uncertain Hour')
• 9 November - 40 years later, the Chronicler of Hel ( 'I Sommersi e i salvati', 'The Drowned And The Saved')
• 16 November - Epilogue: Primo Levi's Message
Bernard is a practising psychoanalyst and training analyst. He is Director emeritus of The Squiggle Foundation which promotes the work of the eminent psychoanalyst and paediatrician Donald Winnicott. Holding a degree in English and enjoys a life-long research interest in integrating and enriching the two disciplines.
‘I always thought that building bridges is the best job there is because roads go over bridges, and without roads we’d still be like savages. In short, bridges are like the opposite of borders, and borders are where wars start’ (Primo Levi, ‘The Wrench’)
The course will include discussion of the following texts:
• 12 October - Introduction, 'I am a Centaur!'
• 19 October - What is Human Nature? ('Se questo e un uomo', 'If This is a Man?').
• 26 October - The Survivor as novelist ('Se Nom Ora, Quando?, 'If Not Now, When ?)
• 2 November - Poetry and other work ('Ad Ora Incerta', 'At An Uncertain Hour')
• 9 November - 40 years later, the Chronicler of Hel ( 'I Sommersi e i salvati', 'The Drowned And The Saved')
• 16 November - Epilogue: Primo Levi's Message
Bernard is a practising psychoanalyst and training analyst. He is Director emeritus of The Squiggle Foundation which promotes the work of the eminent psychoanalyst and paediatrician Donald Winnicott. Holding a degree in English and enjoys a life-long research interest in integrating and enriching the two disciplines.
Course Dates
- Tue 12th October 10
- Tue 19th October 10
- Tue 26th October 10
- Tue 2nd November 10
- Tue 9th November 10
- Tue 16th November 10