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The wrench

Levi, Primo, 1919-19872013
Book
'The Wrench' is one of Primo Levi's collections of stories. It takes the form of an interview by a chemist of a rigger. They are both working in a remote work camp where there is little to do in the evenings except tell stories. The scene is loosely based upon Togliattigrad, the Fiat camp set up in Russia to build a car factory. 'This is not a book for journalists. Civil servants, too, will feel uneasy while reading it, and as for lawyers, they will never sleep again. For it is about a man in his capacity as homo faber, a maker of things with his hands, and what has any of us ever made but words. I say it is "about" the man who makes; truly, it is more a hymn of praise than a description, and not only because the toiler who is the hero of the book is a hero indeed - a figure, in his humanity, simplicity, worthy of inclusion in the catalogue of mythical giants alongside Hercules, Atlas, Gargantua and Orion. He is Faussone, a rigger' Bernard Levin, The Times
Main title:
The wrench / Primo Levi ; translated from the Italian by William Weaver.
Author:
Imprint:
London : Abacus, 2013.
Collation:
250 pages ; 20 cm
Notes:
This translation originally published as: The monkey's wrench: New York : Simon & Schuster, 1986.Formerly CIP. Uk
ISBN:
9780349138633 (paperback)
Dewey class:
853.914
Language:
EnglishItalian
BRN:
1032555
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