Analysis Of If This Is A Man By Primo Levi

1174 Words5 Pages
Introduction If this is a man, written by Primo Levi was first published in 1958. The novel documents Levi’s experience in Auschwitz in the year he spent. If this is a man was written for a cathartic purpose. Levi chose to write the novel “in order of urgency” Some events in the story are recounted in chronological order, but most of his story is told in an order in relation to its relevance to the tale. While Foer’s integration of multiple settings leads to structural disorder in the book, Levi’s reluctance to change the description of setting he experienced, makes the structure of the novel jump between episodic and chronological. if this is a man. Unlike some authors, Levi did not want to distance himself from his experiences in the novel and as such did not change the setting. This is why he made his novel so realistic and autobiographical. This is because Levi wanted the audience to fully understand what it feels like to be in a concentration camp and through reading the novel, experience themselves the struggles that the prisoners went through. Levi’s description of the concentration camp is so vivid and thus is jolting to the reader since Auschwitz is a real place you can visit today “The stories he will tell of the Lager challenge this claim of freedom. He labels the camp differently writing, “This is hell. Today, in our times, hell must be like this.” (22) “ Extremely Loud Foer created a fictional account to showcase the aftermath of a tragedy while Levi used