Journal of Italian Translation

Lina Insana/Primo Levi
Nacht der Girondijnen by Jacob Presser. 1957.
—. L’osteria di Brema. Milano: Scheiwiller, 1975.
—, trans. and introd. Il processo. Torino: Einaudi, 1983. Trans. of Der Prozeb
by Franz Kafka.
—. Se questo è un uomo, La tregua. Torino: Einaudi, [1958,1963,1989], 1993.
—, trans. Lo sguardo da lontano. Torino: Einaudi, 1984. Trans. of Le régard
éloigné by Claude Lévi-Strauss.
—, trans. Simboli naturali. Torino: Einaudi, 1979. Trans. of Natural Symbols
by Mary Douglas.
—. Il sistema periodico. Torino: Einaudi, [1975], 1994.
—. I sommersi e i salvati. Torino: Einaudi, [1986], 1991.
—, trans. La via delle maschere. Torino: Einaudi, 1985. Trans. of La vie des
masques by Claude Lévi-Strauss.
Rosato, Italo. “Poesia.” Primo Levi. Riga, n. 13. Milano: Marcos y Marcos,
1997.
—. “Ad ora incerta.” Autografo. II.5 (1985): 95-9.
Segre, Cesare. “I romanzi e le poesie.” Opere. Primo Levi. Torino: Einaudi,
1988. xii-xxxv.
Thomson, Ian. Primo Levi. London: Hutchinson, 2002.
Notes
1. Cf. Levi’s essay “Dello scrivere oscuro” in L’altrui mestiere.
2. The lingua franca of the univers concentrationnaire, the Lagerjargon was a
mixture of all of the national and cultural languages represented in the camp.
It contained elements of the sign systems of both victim and oppressor: on
one hand, the German, Polish, and Yiddish of the Nazis and their “gray
zoner” functionaries, and on the other, “bits and pieces of the languages of
the victims” (Gilman 140). Levi’s interest in the language of the Lager and of
the Final Solution spans from Se questo è un uomo to the “Comunicare” chapter
of I sommersi e i salvati.
3. In addition to various projects commissioned by Edizioni Scientifiche
Einaudi (notably the four-volume co-translation of Chimica Superiore Organica),
Levi’s published translation work includes La notte dei Girondini (Milano:
Adelphi, 1976; trans. of Jacob Presser’s De nacht der Girondijnen), I simboli
naturali (Torino: Einaudi, 1979; trans. of Mary Douglas’Natural Symbols), Il
processo (Torino: Einaudi, 1983; trans. of Franz Kafka’s Der Prozeß), Lo sguardo
da lontano (Torino: Einaudi, 1984; trans. of Claude Lévi-Strauss’ Le régard
éloigné), La via delle maschere (Torino: Einaudi, 1985; trans. of Claude Lévi-
Strauss’ La vie des masques), and translations of Heinrich Heine’s poetry
published in the “Traduzioni” section at the end of Ad ora incerta, a collection
of Levi’s original poetic work (Torino: Garzanti, 1984). Levi was also the
author of a number of essays on the topic of translation, in particular three
separate pieces written in conjunction with his translation of Franz Kafka’s
Der Prozeb (his introduction to the translation, itself; “Tradurre Kafka;” and
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