A Tranquil Star, Primo Levi
A Tranquil Star, Primo Levi
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A Tranquil Star

Author: Primo Levi, Ann Goldstein

Narrator: David Colacci

Unabridged: 3 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/20/2013

Synopsis

A Tranquil Star, the first new American collection of Primo Levi's previously untranslated fiction to appear since 1990, affirms his position as one of the twentieth century's most enduring writers. These seventeen stories, first published in Italian between 1949 and 1986 and translated by Ann Goldstein and Alessandra Bastagli, demonstrate Levi's extraordinary range, taking the reader from the primal resistance of a captured partisan fighter to a middle-aged chemist experimenting with a new paint that wards off evil, to the lustful thoughts of an older man obsessed with a mysterious woman in a seaside villa. In the title story, Levi demonstrates his unerringly tragic understanding of the fragility of the universe through the tale of a pensive astronomer, terrified by the possibility that a long-dormant star might explode and reduce the entire planet to vapor. This remarkable new collection affirms Italo Calvino's conviction that Levi was one of the most important and gifted writers of our time.

About Primo Levi

Primo Levi (1919–1987) was a Jewish Italian chemist, Holocaust survivor, and author of memoirs, short stories, poems, and novels. He gained international recognition for his 1959 memoir Survival in Auschwitz.

About David Colacci

David Colacci is an actor and director who has directed and performed in prominent theaters nationwide. His credits include roles from Shakespeare to Albee, as well as extensive work on new plays. As a narrator, he has won numerous Earphones Awards, earned Audie Award nominations, and been included in Best Audio of the Year lists by such publications as Publishers Weekly, AudioFile magazine, and Library Journal. He was a resident actor and director with the Cleveland Play House for eight years and has been artistic director of the Hope Summer Rep Theater since 1992.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Matthew Ted

167th book of 2020. My friend, L. (who is a good ten years older than I am), was married last year and in October, we went to Brighton for his stag-do; long story short, I was horribly drunk and remember talking on and on at poor W., who was the only person left on the train from our party by the tim......more

Goodreads review by Alex Gunsean

Primo Levi is a writer primarily known for his trilogy of memoirs about his time at Auschwitz, so I was very interested to read these 17 short stories that he wrote across his lifetime that were previously unpublished in English. At face value it seems that variety is the word for this collection, w......more

Goodreads review by Moshe

Not all the short stories in this collection are finished or like stories, but I liked the overall feeling. Levi was a very talented writer; and he was more then just the work that defined him as an Holocaust survivor.......more

Goodreads review by Sharon

Because these stories are generally quite short, I found it hard to write individual reviews for them. While there were some stories I really enjoyed, there were many that were boring or relied too heavily on the reader's outside knowledge. By far the best story of the collection was the titular "A......more

Quotes

“These pieces…shed further light on Levi’s life and work.” Publishers Weekly

“The infinite and the ineffable, portrayed with singular wit and charm.” Kirkus (starred review)

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