Primo, Writer

I overlooked this interesting bit of news earlier this month. I guess it got lost in the avalanche that is the web. The New Yorker recently published some short stories by Primo Levi, translated from Italian for the first time. Part of a broader effort to expose readers to the writer's work outside his Holocaust literature, among the interesting pieces is "A Tranquil Star." It caught my eye by being described as Kafka-esque. I couldn't resist seeing if the animus I share for the inestimable Kafka would extend to Levi's newly translated stories. The verdict? Well, here's a passage.

Once upon a time, somewhere in the universe very far from here, lived a peaceful star, which moved peacefully in the immensity of the sky, surrounded by a crowd of peaceful planets about which we have not a thing to report. This star was very big and very hot, and its weight was enormous: and here a reporter’s difficulties begin. We have written “very far,” “big,” “hot,” “enormous”: Australia is very far, an elephant is big and a house is bigger, this morning I had a hot bath, Everest is enormous. It’s clear that something in our lexicon isn’t working.

But it's not clear that something in the story isn't working. I just haven't yet decided how I feel about the story. So, I guess you'll have to read it as well. So there.