If this is a man.

[zotz]

Anthony Sher has adapted Primo Levi's book for the stage. There's an interview here. It's going to be here. This probably isn't the sort of thing you'd actually recommend to people, but I'd certainly go if I was going to be in town.

Comments

[kixie.livejournal.com]

I know some people who went to see that. I really want to see that, I know that book very well, studied it a few years ago and from what I've herad, the play is amazing.

[kixie.livejournal.com]

I know some people who went to see that. I really want to see that, I know that book very well, studied it a few years ago and from what I've herad, the play is amazing.

[steer.livejournal.com]

I just finished reading it last weekend and am now reading the sequel ("The Truce"?) I don't know why it's taken me so long since I've read and loved some of this other books ("If Not Now, When" and "The Periodic Table").

It's a magnificent, amazing and (strangely) uplifting. It's amazing how he comes through it without actually sounding bitter and manages to extract poetry and beauty from terrible, dehumanising situations especially when considering the final toll it exacted upon him.

[steer.livejournal.com]

Did you notice that the director was "Richard Wilson" of "One Foot in the Grave"?

[zotz]

Good. Sadly I'm unlikely to see it.

[zotz]

I hadn't noticed that, no. An odd thought, but I'm sure he does it wonderfully.

[zotz]

The Truce was filmed a couple of years ago. It's yet another I haven't seen.

It's amazing how he comes through it without actually sounding bitter

Yes. He said later that he wanted to bear witness and make it a straightforward account, AIR.

Have you read "The drowned and the saved"? It was the last book published before his death, and he returned to the subject of the camps and a lot fo things that had happened in between, such as his correspondence and meeting with Albert Speer. He seems to have been a very humane man. He wrote about capos and the sonderkommando, and I didn't get the feeling that he condemned them for what they did, because he knew they had no other option.

[zotz]

It sounds from the interview like they gave it a lot of thought. I suppose you'd have to. I wouldn't previously have thought it was possible to do it meaningfully.

[steer.livejournal.com]

I still have to read "The drowned and the saved" so thanks for the recommendation. He really is such a poetic writer.

He wrote about capos and the sonderkommando, and I didn't get the feeling that he condemned them for what they did, because he knew they had no other option.

Absolutely the feeling I got from "If this is a man" -- I was trying to think of a good way to phrase it. I also found his description of the concentration camp economy (trading rations of bread for spoons, bowls or shirts) horribly fascinating and the idea of the "musselmann" (did I spell that right?) who is known to be doomed.

Incredible writer, absolutely incredible.

[zotz]

I still have to read "The drowned and the saved"

Well, if you'd like to borrow my copy just say.

his description of the concentration camp economy

Yes. I must read The Gulag Archipelago at some point too, although I'd guess it also must be somewhat traumatic.

"musselmann"

I think I've seen it spelt musselmann and mussulmann.

[gingiber.livejournal.com]

Shame it is only playing in london. I would love to see it. The book was so powerful.