Editing Primo Levi (section)

==== 1975–1987 ====
In 1975, a collection of Levi's poetry was published under the title {{lang|it|L'osteria di Brema}} (''The Bremen Beer Hall''), which was published in English as ''Shema: Collected Poems''.

He wrote two other highly praised memoirs, {{lang|it|Lilit e altri racconti}} (''Moments of Reprieve'', 1978) and {{lang|it|Il sistema periodico}} (''The Periodic Table'', 1975). ''[[Moments of Reprieve]]'' deals with characters he observed during imprisonment. ''[[The Periodic Table (short story collection)|The Periodic Table]]'' is a collection of mostly autobiographical short stories, and also includes two fictional stories that he wrote in 1941 while being employed at the asbestos mine in San Vittore. Each story is named after a chemical element and the subject matter of each story is related to that element. On 19 October 2006, the [[Royal Institution]] in London declared that ''The Periodic Table'' was the [[best science book ever]] written.<ref name="Randerson"/>

In 1977, at the age of 58, Levi retired as a part-time consultant at the SIVA paint factory to devote himself full-time to writing. Like all his books, [[The Wrench|''La chiave a stella'']] (1978), published in the US in 1986 as ''The Monkey Wrench'' and in the UK in 1987 as ''The Wrench'', is difficult to categorize. Some reviews describe it as a collection of stories about work and workers, told by a narrator who resembles Levi. Others have called it a novel, created by the linked stories and characters. Set in the [[Fiat S.p.A.|Fiat]]-run Russian company town of [[Tolyatti|Togliattigrad]], it portrays the engineer as a hero on whom others depend. The Piedmontese engineer Faussone travelled the world as an expert in erecting cranes and bridges. Most of the stories involve the solution of industrial problems by the use of [[troubleshooting]] skills, and many stories come from the author's personal experience. The underlying philosophy is that pride in one's work is necessary for fulfilment. ''[[The Wrench]]'' won the [[Strega Prize]] in 1979 and brought Levi a wider audience in Italy, though left-wing critics regretted that he did not describe the harsh working conditions on the assembly lines at Fiat.<ref>Thomson p. 400.</ref>

In 1984, Levi published his only [[novel]], ''[[If Not Now, When? (novel)|If Not Now, When?]]''—or his second novel, if ''The Monkey Wrench'' is counted. It traces the fortunes of a group of [[Jewish partisans]] behind German lines during World War II as they seek to survive and continue their fight against the occupier. With the ultimate goal of reaching [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] to take part in the development of a [[Jewish state|Jewish national home]], the partisan band reaches Poland and then German territory. There, the surviving members are officially received as [[displaced persons]] in territory held by the Western allies. Finally, they succeed in reaching Italy, on their way to Palestine. The novel won both the {{lang|it|[[Premio Campiello]]}} and the {{lang|it|[[Premio Viareggio]]}}.

The book was inspired by events during Levi's train journey home after liberation from the concentration camp, which was narrated in ''The Truce''. At one point in the journey, a band of Zionists hitched their wagon to the refugee train. Levi was impressed by their strength, resolve, organisation and sense of purpose.

Levi became a major literary figure in Italy, and his books were translated into many other languages. ''The Truce'' became a standard text in Italian schools. In 1985, he flew to the United States for a 20-day speaking tour. Although he was accompanied by Lucia, the trip was very draining for him.

In the [[Soviet Union]], his early works were not accepted by censors because he had portrayed Soviet soldiers as slovenly and disorderly rather than heroic. In [[Israel]], a country formed partly by Jewish survivors who lived through horrors similar to those Levi described, many of his works were not translated and published until after his death.<ref name=":0" />

[[File:Moments before Rudolf Höß was put to death for his crimes at Auschwitz.jpg|thumb|left|[[Rudolf Höss]] immediately before being hanged]]

In March 1985, he wrote the introduction to the re-publication of the autobiography<ref>Commandant of Auschwitz: {{lang|de|Rudolf Höß}}. {{ISBN|1-84212-024-7}}</ref> of [[Rudolf Höss]], who was commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp from 1940 to 1943. In it, he writes: "It's filled with evil ... and reading it is agony."

Also in 1985, a volume of his essays, previously published in {{lang|it|La Stampa}}, was published under the title {{lang|it|L'altrui mestiere}} (''Other People's Trades''). Levi used to write the stories and hoard them, releasing them to {{lang|it|La Stampa}} at the rate of about one a week. The essays ranged from book reviews and ponderings about strange things in nature, to fictional short stories.<ref name=":0" />

In 1986, his book {{lang|it|I sommersi e i salvati}} (''[[The Drowned and the Saved]]'') was published. In it, he tries to analyse why people behaved the way they did at Auschwitz and why some survived whilst others perished. In his typical style, he makes no judgments but presents the evidence and asks the questions. For example, one essay examines what he calls "the grey zone": those Jews who did the Germans' dirty work for them and kept the rest of the prisoners in line.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lee |first=Sander H. |date=2016-08-01 |title=Primo Levi's Gray Zone: Implications for Post-Holocaust Ethics |url=https://academic.oup.com/hgs/article/30/2/276/1749522 |journal=Holocaust and Genocide Studies |language=en |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=276–297 |doi=10.1093/hgs/dcw037|s2cid=151930376 |issn=8756-6583 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> He questioned what made a concert violinist behave as a callous taskmaster.

Also in 1986, a collection of short stories, previously published in {{lang|it|La Stampa}}, was assembled and published as {{lang|it|Racconti e saggi}}, some of which were published in the English volume ''[[The Mirror Maker]]''.

At the time of his death in April 1987, Levi was working on another selection of essays called ''The Double Bond'', which took the form of letters to {{lang|it|"La Signorina"}}.<ref>Angier p. 80.</ref> The essays are very personal in nature, and approximately five or six chapters of the manuscript exist. [[Carole Angier]], in her biography of Levi, describes how she tracked some of these essays down. She wrote that others were being kept from public view by Levi's close friends, to whom he gave them, and they might have been destroyed.