Belletrista: "An Interview with Italy's Lia Levi"
Award-winning Italian author Lia Levi is not well known among readers of English, but with the translation and publication of The Jewish Husband, Europa Editions is hoping to change that.
Born in Northern Italy in 1931 to Jewish parents, Lia Levi and her family moved to Rome in the late 30s just as the fascist racial laws were coming into effect. After the war, Levi studied philosophy and became a successful journalist. Levi is perhaps best known for her novels with Jewish themes and she is the editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine, Shalom, which she has been directing for over thirty years. Lia Levi is also a well-known author of children's literature, with more than a dozen books to her name. Among her many awards, she has received the Elsa Morante First Novel Prize, the Castello Prize for Fiction, and the Moravia Prize.
It is with great pleasure that we introduce Lia Levi to our readers. Belletrista's Paola Sergi spoke with Ms. Levi recently.
PS: The name Levi is linked to many of our literary canon's greats: Primo, Carlo, Natalia Ginzburg; are you also part of the same family and, be your response affirmative or negative, how do you feel linked to them and influenced by them?
LL: No, no relation to Primo Levi, Carlo Levi or Natalia Levi Ginzburg. However, I knew Primo Levi well, and with him I found myself at a few conversations with students. I can, therefore, attest to a little something about him: Primo was an wonderful person because of his availability and above all, his humanity. The door to his home was always open to anyone, especially young people, who wanted to know/learn and understand. He was a real Master, who shared his wisdom and profound life lessons with genuine modesty. The fact that, as he himself says, Primo had deliberately used in his writing the soothing and sober diction of the witness and not the angry and hurt one of the victim, is something that has profoundly struck me and inspired me. I made my own his idea, "I write and you will be the judges".
Read the complete interview on Belletrista
Born in Northern Italy in 1931 to Jewish parents, Lia Levi and her family moved to Rome in the late 30s just as the fascist racial laws were coming into effect. After the war, Levi studied philosophy and became a successful journalist. Levi is perhaps best known for her novels with Jewish themes and she is the editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine, Shalom, which she has been directing for over thirty years. Lia Levi is also a well-known author of children's literature, with more than a dozen books to her name. Among her many awards, she has received the Elsa Morante First Novel Prize, the Castello Prize for Fiction, and the Moravia Prize.
It is with great pleasure that we introduce Lia Levi to our readers. Belletrista's Paola Sergi spoke with Ms. Levi recently.
PS: The name Levi is linked to many of our literary canon's greats: Primo, Carlo, Natalia Ginzburg; are you also part of the same family and, be your response affirmative or negative, how do you feel linked to them and influenced by them?
LL: No, no relation to Primo Levi, Carlo Levi or Natalia Levi Ginzburg. However, I knew Primo Levi well, and with him I found myself at a few conversations with students. I can, therefore, attest to a little something about him: Primo was an wonderful person because of his availability and above all, his humanity. The door to his home was always open to anyone, especially young people, who wanted to know/learn and understand. He was a real Master, who shared his wisdom and profound life lessons with genuine modesty. The fact that, as he himself says, Primo had deliberately used in his writing the soothing and sober diction of the witness and not the angry and hurt one of the victim, is something that has profoundly struck me and inspired me. I made my own his idea, "I write and you will be the judges".
Read the complete interview on Belletrista