The Concentrationary Universe: Primo Levi’s Spatial Consciousness

Abstract

“I’ve always thought that bridges are the most beautiful work there is,” remarks Tino Faussone in Primo Levi’s 1978 book The Wrench (La chiave a stella).¹ Levi’s rigger-protagonist appreciates bridges because “they’ll never do anybody harm; in fact, they do good, because roads pass over bridges, and without roads we would still be like savages. In other words, bridges are sort of the opposite of boundaries, and boundaries are where wars start.”² The nomadic Faussone enjoys seeing the world while “going from one construction site to another,” appreciating the diversity of the planet: “the world is beautiful because it’s all different ^.”3 Typically working at interstitial places such as shorelines, riverbanks, or on an offshore oil rig that is “like an island, but … an island we had made,” Faussone is a “Homo faber” who finds meaning in work performed well. The rigger’s wrench is, for Faussone, also a key to the stars whose dust he finds on top of the tall constructions he has helped to erect.⁴ A celebration of the “freedom” attainable from “being good at your job and therefore taking pleasure in doing it,” Faussone demonstrates Levi’s argument that freedom means “not having to work under a boss.”⁵