Abstract
“Creation” emphasizes how Levi uses literary animals to reverse that regime of “counter-creation” he identifies with Auschwitz. Initially the focus lies on an article, “Novels dictated by crickets,” in which Levi makes an original connection between animals and what he calls “uno scrivere nuovo” [a new writing]. Wondering about the nature of this “new writing” brings us to examine how Levi’s literature seems to replicate a pattern of creation–de-creation–re-creation that belongs to two biblical texts very dear to him, the Book of Genesis and the Book of Job. The former is recalled by Levi’s short story entitled “Il sesto giorno” [The sixth day]. The exploration of this story suggests Levi’s concern for the almost impossible task of properly inventing new animals.
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Notes
- 1.
For a survey of Levi’s self-understanding as a writer see at least the interviews collected in the second (“I libri”) and third section (“La letteratura”) of CI 101–206. See also Carpegna (1996).
- 2.
Cf. Ahr (2011).
- 3.
First as Levi (1984); then in AM, OII 841–844 with the new title “Lo scriba.”
- 4.
The entire article has an ironically ambivalent tone, underlined by Levi’s reference to “un giovane che paternamente mi fa da guida” [a young man [who] has guided me], probably Levi’s son, who tells the author: “Tu appartieni alla austera generazione di umanisti che ancora pretendono di capire il mondo intorno a loro. Questa pretesa è diventata assurda: lascia fare all’abitudine e il disagio sparirà” [You belong to the austere generation of humanists who still insist on wanting to understand the world around them. This demand has become absurd: leave everything to the habit and your discomfort will disappear]; 841. Needless to say, Levi not only used a personal computer, but more important both the idea of understanding the world as a coherent and meaningful whole, and the importance of habits are themes largely present in his testimonial accounts. On this topic see also Usher (2001) and Lollini (1997).
- 5.
See Belpoliti’s “Note ai testi” in OII 1559. This dedication is confirmed, along with some other details, by Angier (2002), 642. For a general description of the relation between Levi and the fellow writer Gina Lagorio, see Thomson, 426–427.
- 6.
During their second encounter, the fish aspects have disappeared and the Greek is recognized only for his “scialbi occhi di gufo” (313).
- 7.
- 8.
Cf., for instance, Ross, 150.
- 9.
Levi stresses how “gli stessi etologi sono stati costretti ad introdurre nel loro linguaggio il termine ‘corteggiamento’, che è una metafora umana” [the ethologists themselves are compelled to introduce in their language the term courtship, which is a human metaphor]; AM, OII 691.
- 10.
Cf. Nagel (1974).
- 11.
Cf. Aristotle, The History of Animals, book VIII, 1; available on The Internet Classic Archives, MIT, http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/history_anim.html
- 12.
This is the whole passage: “Ma è indispensabile che la femmina risponda giusto: una risposta stonata, anche solo di un quarto di tono, interrompe il dialogo, e il maschio va in cerca di un’altra compagna più conforme al suo innato modello. Pare che questa condizione di esatta sintoni acustica sia una garanzai contro gli incroci sterili e perciò inutile ai fini del ‘multiplicamini’.” [But it is indispensable for the female to answer correctly: an answer out of tune, even by one fourth of a tone, interrupts the dialogue, and the male goes in search of another companion, more in conformity with his innate model. It seems that this condition of exact acoustic synthony is a guarantee against the crossbreeding of different species, which would be sterile and therefore useless for the “you must multiply” aim.] The multiplicamini belongs, of course, to the biblical formula “crescite et multiplicamini” in Genesis, 1:22; 1:28, 8:17, 9:1, 9:8 and so on.
- 13.
This translation belongs to the New Revised Standard Version Bible, while the Revised Standard Version has “night hag” instead of “Lilith.” In Italian, the 1974 CEI version reads as the following: “Gatti selvatici si incontreranno con iene, i satiri si chiameranno l`un l`altro; vi faranno sosta anche le civette e vi troveranno tranquilla dimora.” Only in the 2008 CEI Bible, “civette” has been substituted with “Lilith.” Obviously, we do not know what version of the Bible was used by Levi to read and consult.
- 14.
See Kvam et al., 162–163 and relative note n. 33; 174.
- 15.
On the influence of the Eastern European Hebrew tradition in Levi’s work, see Valabrega (1997).
- 16.
Cf. the interview with E. Bruck, Ebreo fino ad un certo punto, in CI 269.
- 17.
- 18.
Valabrega claims that the whole episode of the death of the animal “segna l’addio alla vita del villaggio e la fine di un mondo” (in Valabrega 1997b, 287) [signifies a farewell to his village life and the end of a world]. Therefore, in her reading, Pavel connects with the horse just because “Il Tordo” reminds him of his lost village and, more generally, because Levi “contrappone... all’esilio ... l’ingenuità e il candore ‘francescano’ del mondo animale” (287) [sets the innocence and the “Franciscan” candor of the animal world against the exile].
- 19.
Arié is also the name of the rabbi protagonist of the short story “Il servo.”
- 20.
All the English translations of SNOQ come from INNW.
- 21.
Cf. Haraway (1988).
- 22.
For an interesting analysis of this theme also in other Holocaust writers, see Prescott, 51–78.
- 23.
Cf. “Note ai testi,” OI 1400.
- 24.
The encounter between Emmanuel Lévinas and the dog named “Bobby” is told in a short essay entitled “The Name of a Dog, or Natural Rights” (in Lévinas 1990, 151–153). Although this famous story has been read as a way to incorporate Lévinas’s ethics into the animal studies, his position towards animals is quite ambiguous and has been recently widely debated. On this theme, see at least Clarke (2004).
- 25.
Most commentators of the episode in Se questo é un uomo that ends with the story of Khun have been struck by its apparent harshness (SQU, I, 125–126). On this topic, see both the interview with Levi by Giuseppe Grieco, “Io e Dio,” in CI 282–290; and the longer one by Ferdinando Camon (Camon 2006).
- 26.
On this topic, see also Rondini, 365–367; and Hakarmi (2009).
- 27.
For Henri, “inumanamente scaltro e incomprensibile come il Serpente della Genesi,” see SQU, OI 96. For Levi’s exploration of the imaginary and symbolic value of the snake, see AM, “Bisogno di paura,” OII 848–852.
- 28.
Prescott’s volume begins with the presence of Genesis 3–4 in Holocaust memories. The other chapters are devoted to, respectively, Genesis 6–9 (Noah and the Deluge); Genesis 11:1–9 (Babel); Genesis 22:1–19 (Abraham and Isaac); Genesis 22:23–33 (Jacob and the Angel); and Genesis 4:1–26 (Cain and Abel).
- 29.
On this issue see also Barton and Wilkinson (2009).
- 30.
The end of the story re-establishes the quasi-scientific tone of most of Levi’s essays, explaining for example why frogs produce so many eggs. Furthermore, Levi ends his account telling how one of “their” tadpoles was killed by a robin, which, in return, was then captured by their white kitty, which “lo uccise a mezzo, come fanno i gatti, e se lo portò in un angolo per giocare con la sua agonia” [she only half-killed it, as cats do, and carried it off into a corner to play with its agony].
- 31.
First as Levi (1980a), then in AM, OII 711–715.
- 32.
According to the “Note ai testi” written by Belpoliti, “Il sesto giorno” was designed in 1946–1947 and completed in 1957 (“in un dattiloscritto depositato presso l’Archivio Einaudi (…) è indicata la data di stesura: 22 dicembre 1957;” SN, OI 1438).
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Benvegnù, D. (2018). Creation I. A New Writing. In: Animals and Animality in Primo Levi’s Work. The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71258-1_6
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