Primo Levi and Humanism after Auschwitz: Posthumanist Reflections (Italian & Italian American Studies) PDF
Preview Primo Levi and Humanism after Auschwitz: Posthumanist Reflections (Italian & Italian American Studies)
Italian and Italian American Studies Stanislao G. Pugliese Hofstra University Series Editor This publishing initiative seeks to bring the latest scholarship in Italian and Italian American history, literature, cinema, and cultural studies to a large audience of specialists, general readers, and students. I&IAS will feature works on modern Italy (Renaissance to the present) and Italian American culture and society by established scholars as well as new voices in the academy. This endeavor will help to shape the evolving fields of Italian and Italian American Studies by re-emphasizing the connection between the two. The following editorial board consists of esteemed senior scholars who act as advisors to the series editor. REBECCA WEST JOSEPHINE GATTUSO HENDIN University of Chicago New York University FRED GARDAPHÉ PHILIP V. CANNISTRARO Stony Brook University Queens College and the Graduate School, CUNY ALESSANDRO PORTELLI MILLICENT MARCUS Università di Roma “La Sapienza” Yale University QueerItalia: Same-Sex Desire in Italian Literature and Film edited by Gary P. Cestaro, July 2004 FrankSinatra: History, Identity, and Italian American Culture edited by Stanislao G. Pugliese, October 2004 TheLegacyofPrimoLevi edited by Stanislao G. Pugliese, December 2004 ItalianColonialism edited by Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Mia Fuller, July 2005 Mussolini’s Rome: Rebuilding the Eternal City Borden W. Painter Jr., July 2005 RepresentingSaccoandVanzetti edited by Jerome H. Delamater and Mary Anne Trasciatti, September 2005 CarloTresca: Portrait of a Rebel Nunzio Pernicone, October 2005 ItalyintheAgeofPinocchio: Children and Danger in the Liberal Era Carl Ipsen, April 2006 TheEmpireofStereotypes: Germaine de Staël and the Idea of Italy Robert Casillo, May 2006 RaceandtheNationinLiberalItaly, 1861–1911: Meridionalism, Empire, and Diaspora Aliza S. Wong, October 2006 WomeninItaly, 1946–1960: An Interdisciplinary Study edited by Penelope Morris, October 2006 ANewGuidetoItalianCinema Carlo Celli and Marga Cottino-Jones, November 2006 DebatingDivorceinItaly: Marriage and the Making of Modern Italians, 1860–1974 Mark Seymour, December 2006 HumanNatureinRuralTuscany: An Early Modern History Gregory Hanlon, March 2007 TheMissingItalianNuremberg: Cultural Amnesia and Postwar Politics Michele Battini, September 2007 AssassinationsandMurderinModernItaly: Transformations in Society and Culture edited by Stephen Gundle and Lucia Rinaldi, October 2007 PieroGobettiandthePoliticsofLiberalRevolution James Martin, December 2008 PrimoLeviandHumanismafterAuschwitz: Posthumanist Reflections Jonathan Druker, June 2009 Primo Levi and Humanism after Auschwitz Posthumanist Reflections Jonathan Druker primo levi and humanism after auschwitz Copyright © Jonathan Druker, 2009. All rights reserved. First published in 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. Part of Chapter 2 was originally published as “The Shadowed Violence of Culture: Fascism and the Figure of Ulysses in Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz,” Clio: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Literature, History, and the Philosophy of History 33, no. 2 (Winter 2004): 143–61; reprinted with the permission of Clio. Part of Chapter 3 was originally published as “Authoritative Testimony and Authoritarian Discourse in Primo Levi’s Se questo è un uomo,” Italian Culture: The Journal of the American Association of Italian Studies 19, no. 1 (2001): 41–52; reprinted with the permission of Italian Culture. Part of Chapter 4 was originally published as “Ethics and Ontology in Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz: A Levinasian Reading,” Italica 83, nos. 3–4 (2006): 529–42; reprinted with the permission of Italica. ISBN: 978-1-4039-8433-3 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Druker, Jonathan. Primo Levi and humanism after Auschwitz : posthumanist reflections / Jonathan Druker. p. cm.—(Italian & Italian American studies) Includes index. ISBN 978-1-4039-8433-3 (alk. paper) 1. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)—Influence. 2. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)—Moral and ethical aspects. 3. Levi, Primo—Criticism and interpretation. 4. Memory (Philosophy) 5. Humanistic ethics. 6. Philosophy, Modern. I. Title. D804.348.D78 2009 940.53'181—dc22 2008043239 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Scribe Inc. First edition: June 2009 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America. For Lisa This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1 Judaism, Enlightenment, and the End of Theodicy 15 2 The Shadowed Violence of Culture 35 3 Survivor Testimony and the Hegelian Subject 55 4 Ethics and Ontology in Auschwitz and After 71 5 Traumatic History 89 6 The Art of Separation from Chemistry to Racial Science 107 7 The Work of Genocide 119 Conclusion: A New Humanism? 131 Notes 135 Index 167 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments This book has been a challenge to write and it would not have been finished without the generous support of institutions, scholars, friends, and family. I thank the editorial staff at Palgrave Macmillan for seeing it through to completion. The early stages of the project were nurtured by my colleagues in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Illinois State University, especially Andy Weeks and Jim Reid. I wish to thank them and also my generous friends on the faculty of the University of Illinois—Har- riet Murav, Bruce Rosenstock, and Michael Rothberg. In addition, I owe a special debt of gratitude to Tom Peterson, my former colleague at the University of Georgia, who offered me encouragement at a crucial moment in my academic career. Scholars Nancy Harrowitz, Nick Patruno, Stan Pugliese, and Risa Sodi have done more than anyone to promote Levi studies in the United States, and I have been fortunate to participate in conferences and roundtable dis- cussions they have organized and to publish my work in volumes they have edited. I wish to thank them for their initiatives and for their constructive criticism, which has enriched my scholarship. Institutional support has been vital to the completion of this book. I thank the College of Arts and Sciences at Illinois State University for several research grants and express my gratitude to department chairs Kimberly Nance and Dan Everett for their unflagging support. I am also obliged to institutions that have facilitated my research by inviting me to participate in faculty seminars and conferences—these include the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Holocaust Educational Founda- tion, the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies at Boston University, and the American Academy in Rome. I also wish to thank the Fondation Auschwitz in Brussels, Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, and the Department of Italian at Yale University for invitations to present my work to colleagues whose com- ments proved invaluable. Finally and with the greatest pleasure, I thank Lisa Rosenthal, whose encouragement, patience, humor and love made it all worthwhile, and also our children, Jacob and Rosa, for needing a parent that does more than sit at his desk.
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