COMMENT
Write the name of the publication and title of the review of Survival in Auschwitz (alternative title If this is a man).
Write a brief summary of the review.
SEPARATE PARAGRAPH
First read the 3 chapters assigned.
What is your raw reaction to the content of these chapters?
"If This Is a Man" in the culture section of THE ATLANTIC
ReplyDelete- Mona Simpson writes that Survival in Auschwitz is a piece about Levi's home after the liberation. He writes about the "degradation of humanity" and he puts himself in the compromised. Though he wrote the book based on his own experiences, Levi's role in the book was minor. Simpson sees the narrator coming from an established, upper-middle class family. Simpson describes the view coming from a normal man, rather than an artist's view of hell. Levi describes his details with such precision and showed his strength of character after Auschwitz. Though he wrote about his experiences, those memories would not leave him. Mona Simpson writes that she fell in love with him as an author.
2) I was in awe of the way he describes everything from his experiences to everyone else. It provided a sense of how the camps etc were when the holocaust happened. It made me feel like I was there, witnessing every single event that Levi described. I used to be very surprised about concentrations camps and the way a certain group of people were treated simply because they were they were who they were. But, now it does not surprise me anymore because this is currently happening in China, where Muslims are being kept in inhumane conditions, same across the border with Hispanics. So seeing this today, and reading the story about Levi's experiences, just proves that some leaders and some people just don't have hearts and cold towards a group of people who are just practicing their own free rights.
1. "Survival in Auschwitz"
ReplyDeleteWalter S. Zapotoczny writes about how Primo Levi lives as a Jew in northern Italy and is transferred over to a concentration camp in Auschwitz. The reading describes what happens to Levi after his arrest.He was loaded on a freight train with many others and took a four day journey with no food or water. The people were all split up based on if they could work or not. Many of the trains ended up going straight to the gas chambers. He described how humiliating it was to get used to his new surroundings. He barely had any food and he was always starving. Many were dying due to the lack of food supply. He realized that the only way to survive and get through this was to work hard ad obey. Others who did not were beaten to death. He was able to see how people would gather in the corner after working for hours and trade what they had. This system followed economic laws and showed him how people could live and think even in the worst conditions. Inside the prison they came up with social ways to get themselves through this. Primo discusses all the physical trauma that he experienced that left him with emotional problems. He overall shows the reader all the challenges he faced as a survivor of Auschwitz in order to to meet the necessary needs to stay alive. The way he tells the story is very straight forward with a lack of emotion. This in a way covers up the horror of what he actually went through.
2. It was very upsetting to see the reality of what went on. I think that the narrative was written very well with a lot of detail that really described the situations that he was forced to face. When you hear about the Holocaust, I think that in many cases people do not like to talk about it or get into detail, but this was an example that did not hide out the details.It went into depth on how bad things really were for those that suffered. The fact that the emotional aspects of strength and motivation were shown, really adds to the whole experience. The fact that it was told from the point of view of someone who went through it, makes you realize just how horrible this whole situation really was.
Survival in Auschwitz review found in "Inquiries Journal"
ReplyDeletePiccirillo discusses of the necessity of adapting morality because all the prisoners held in the camps in 1943 at Auschwitz were dehumanized . The camp tested their physical stability and mental sanity as they withstand the severe beatings and lack of physiological needs. In the camps, it was simply a matter of surviving by adapting the mind. It was all as if playing a ruse on oneself's, forcing the mind to believe that the situation could be worse. Levi demonstrates the importance of distracting the mind with small goals such as " surviving until spring", such goals were at times enough to ignore the daunting feelings of death because none of their desires would ever be fulfilled, so they thought.
While reading the chapters, my mind underwent several emotions. At first, I felt fear similarly to the men and women that were on a journey to their unfathomable doom. One thing that was disturbing is when Levi says ," Would you not not do the same ? If you and your child were going to be killed tomorrow, would you not give him something to eat today ?" It was as if he was trying to make the most unusual circumstances appear to have some form of normalcy to the readers because that was his new normal. Also, the more I thought about the emotional distress parents went through such as their cries for water for their little ones , the more distraught I become. It was also so shocking to see Levi's state of mind altering from that of a human to an emotionless "being". The way he describes that he no longer had a future and he wasn't trying to make sense of anything, but just being there and not really living. He successfully captures the deepest and darkest state of mind that a person can have when faced with the worst dangers of life.
Publishers Weekly - Wrote an intriguing Piece.
ReplyDelete1. My Synopsis:
Survival in Auschwitz depicts filth, hunger, and anxiety he zeroes in on his captors and friends. This is written as the author recalls according to direct experiences and memory. This memoir of was written in 1962, Levi wrote about his experiences in Auschwitz. Horrific aspects of the Nazi movement which includes mass murders as well as mass starvation and masses of people herded in to confined shelter spaces. People disappearing one by one or in large groups are also discussed. Remarkably a passage from the Odyssey is retold here as a means of comfort.
This heartbreaking recount provides the reader with firsthand detail of the events by Levi.
2. A surprising part of this reading is that there is a horrific feeling of waste and the author does not show any anger or upset toward the guards committing the violent acts.
1. "Surviving Auschwitz: the morality of luck" - The Guardian
ReplyDeleteAdam Phillips writes an article about his views on the book. He focuses on the the Levi's observance of others inside the concentration camps and the ability to adapt to circumstances and surroundings. The way Levi sees how people act in these camps, is the way they would act normally.
2. My reaction was based off reading and knowing a lot of these stories in the past. Most Holocaust memoirs are pretty much similar, all gruesome and horrifying. Some authors, like this one, have different views and reactions to what was going on. To me, this was the first time reading a memoir of someone going through this like it was something normal.
1. ‘The Complete Works of Primo Levi’ in The New York Times
ReplyDeleteEdward Mendelson provided a brief summary of Levi's life, along with the thoughts and belief of Levi which influenced how he wrote "If This Is a Man". The ability of the Nazis to reduce human beings to a basic category made it easy for them to discriminate against others and slaughter them. In contrast, Levi’s belief of science was that even a small difference could lead to a very different result. Therefore, Levi believes that the power of an individual, the power to remain oneself is the most valuable.
2. It was unsettling to read about how people react in these situations. Although many were fearful about their future along with the uncertainty about where they are going, most of them being resigned to their fate.
1.) CAPSULE REVIEW
ReplyDeleteSurvival in Auschwitz
Reviewed by Fritz Stern Summer 1986
The first book combines in one volume Primo Levi's two World War II classics, first published in Italian soon after the war. This is how it was in Auschwitz in 1944, day after endless day, hour after hour. Levi delineates the "concentration camp" personality, passive and cunning, echoing Bruno Bettleheim's almost identical observations in his memoir of Dachau, The Informed Heart. In a lean, uninflected style, Levi conveys the dream-like atmosphere of the camp, the unreality. The gas chambers are near, but remote. Then the Red Army is near, but it too is remote. Cold, hunger and exhaustion obliterate all thought, and all feeling except cold, hunger and exhaustion. The Reawakening charts Levi's incredibly circular return to Italy via Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Here people and landscapes come vividly alive in a bizarre, often comical series of events and human encounters; a truly remarkable tale.
2.) I was very shocked to see the description so detailed while reading. The way the holocaust camps were described made me feel as if i was actually there. It also made me think of the movie Life Is Beautiful I watched it in my Italian class in High School. And it was about an Italian Jew who got put into the concentration camp. But he stayed positive for his son. Plus knowing that these stories were real and the The way Levi talked about everything really made you think. At some parts it was hard to read about the suffering and conditions. The author was able to capture everything so vividly with his words he really dug inside the darkest parts the mind can have.
The Atlantic's piece If This Is a Man
ReplyDelete1. Mona Simpson writes that Primo Levi's memoir from his time in Auschwitz is a master piece centered on the 'easy degradation of humanity'. Simpson talks about Levi's memoir being focused on preserving the memories and he focuses on the other prisoners. Levi an Italian Jewish chemist was captured by the Nazis and taken to Auschwitz and his narrative of his time there is a masterpiece. But the writer also talks about the struggles Levi faced after returning and how his depression and the toll of the Holocaust led him to commit suicide which is heartbreaking.
2. It was very tough reading Survival in Auschwitz, Levi's accounts are so well written they make you feel as if you are there and faced with the same questions that all the prisoners are thinking. The dread that awaiting death brings as well as the torture. His accounts make you think that how many times will we let these atrocities occur we like to think we would've done something or another but the reality is that these events continue to occur to this day yet we stay ignorant as long as we aren't immediately affected and that is our fault. The genocide in Rwanda, the Bosnian Genocide and the concentration camps in China for the Muslim Uyghur population are all testaments that we have learnt nothing we continue to allow these horrific things to happen.
survival in Auschwitz review done by Mona Simpson.
ReplyDeleteMona Simpson reveres Primo levis's work and says that no one has yet to write something in the same style. She says the piece would be unbearable for a camp survivor to read. I can only assume it would be because the piece is so exact in methods described to degrade and torture the prisoners. she reveres his accomplishments throughout his life and talks of his journeys he made and how difficult a life he had but was still able to get back to his roots even after all the horrors he had experienced.when she adresses his writing in particular she mentions that levi described the German guards as a scourge from a biblical story that have come to spread suffering. he doesn't even acknowledge them as human, which is my opinion fitting because of the acts they did.
After reading the three chapters from the assignment i was reminded of how utterly terrible life can be. I was also reminded that what had happened took place less than 100 years ago, it was not as if it was old history but the atroccities i read of seemed as though they had no place in such a time period. I in particular was not outrage but just astonished at how disgusting people can get over a factor of religion or race and how blinded they can be. And to top it off the type of behaviors described are still happening today, for example to china Muslim internment camps. Such a disgusting portion of history, but trying to hide/ignore it would be much worse.
publisher was the atlantic
Delete1. The New Republic piece on Survival of Auschwitz.
ReplyDeleteThis interview with Primo Levi talks about the hardships he faced going through the Holocaust. Primo explains that although he was ridiculed, beaten, and starved for simply being Jewish, he has no hate for Germans in general. "I would be tempted to hate, and with violence too; but exactly because I am not a fascist or a Nazi, I refuse to give way to this temptation."
Primo's need to share his story was so powerful that as soon as he returned to Italy he wrote down all that he could. He wrote the piece not on hatered towards the Germans, but on the sole purpose of sharing his experience with the world.
2. As a Jewish women, I find it very hard reading anything related to the Holocaust. I always find myself teary eyed knowing that families were pulled apart, people were starved to death, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers were burned to death. It is a topic that I don't think people enjoy talking about but I think its very important for everyone to be aware of what took place in World War 2. People often don't understand that there still are countries around the world who continue using these practices. It is something that should be unacceptable to do to any race, ever.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGreat Work Review's "Survival in Auschwitz"; The poster is Unknown.
ReplyDeleteThey write about how he chose to express his experience through a memoir based on his memory of the accounts. This makes it more important to the overall story as he does not express any opinions or try to sway the reader to feel sympathy for him. He only relays opinions as they are expressed to him". The memoir is abut one man's experience, one man's journey. This idea can help the readers apply the suffering he endured to many other victims.
Levi's direct way of storytelling is very ruthless but to me makes it more impactful and helped convey the emotional turmoil he went through. It's hard to review the real life experiences a person had of such a traumatic event. It reminds me of a book about the Cambodian genocide by Khmer Rouge. You hear anecdotes about these genocides and see recreations of movies but you never truly understand the long suffering the victims and survivors until an actual survivor speaks for themselves. Sometimes I wonder if movies create the idea to Nazi apologists that this events did not actually happen and will their false opinions change if they consume facts from a real witness.