Primo Levi: Life and Work: Trauma, Tragedy and Triumph

Primo Levi 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 of love over hate, of hope over despair and of life and creativity over destruction and death. The course will include discussion of the following texts:

• Introduction: Texts of Primo Levi interviewed

• The Essayist of Human Nature: ‘If this is a Man’ (1947/1960)

• Levi the novelist: ‘If not now–When?’(1982/1985)

• The Poetic voice: ‘At an Uncertain Hour’ (1984/1988)

• The chronicler of Hell: ‘The Drowned and the Saved’ (1986/1988)

• Epilogue: Primo Levi’s message

With Bernard Barnett.  Bernard is a practicing psychoanalyst and training analyst. He is Director emeritus of The Squiggle Foundation which promotes the work of the eminent psychoanalyst and pediatrician Donald Winnicott. Holds a degree in English and enjoys a life-long research interest in integrating and enriching the two disciplines.

Tuesdays 2.00-3.30pm