Beowulf Revisited

Heaney's translation of Beowulf added a greater coherence and fluidity to the work that I felt was missing from my original attempt at the original version. The starkly religious tones still shone through, though this time seemed to be resulting from the fantastical exploits described, rather than the purpose of the text itself being philosophical. Although the translation did little in changing my original opinion towards the text's merit and relevance, it certainly made for an easier read. 

Revisiting Naked Lunch

Re-reading Naked Lunch has certainly been a rewarding experience. Now with a far greater knowledge of what to expect from the work, I feel as if I was able to appreciate Burroughs' style far more and to appreciate certain themes and motifs that I would have otherwise missed. Two strains from the work particularly stood out for me. Firstly, Burroughs' treatment of women throughout, which quite frankly is incredibly disturbing. There are several examples of women being beaten up, killed and maltreated throughout the work, the extent of which seems to have escaped me upon the first reading. The reasoning for this being the case, I felt, could be best explained from the section of the novel when 'a horde of lust-mad American women rush in', screaming 'f*** me! f*** me!'. This seemed to suggest Burroughs experiencing the pressure from American society to find himself a wife and to be attracted to women (he was gay), meaning that the violent, negative depiction reflects upon societal norms more than the female gender. I also grasped the sense of Burroughs questioning the very fundamentals language as a tool throughout the work, why some words have such an effect upon us, whilst the overall atmosphere of there being a necessity to question appeared more strongly than upon the first read.

To end, I would certainly recommend revisiting Naked Lunch as a work. I feel as if my first reading was rather overshadowed by my initial aversion and shock to the content that I was not anticipating, meaning that my overall conclusion was rather clouded. Now, however, I feel I can finally appreciate its literary value.

Pnin

Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov REVIEW

Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Pnin depicts a snapshot the ‘thirty-five years’ of exile on the part of its ageing protagonist from his homeland, Russia, and his subsequent inability to ingratiate himself with American society, America being the place where he decides to settle down. This issue of cultural belonging is a theme heavily explored by Nabokov throughout the work. Pnin, despite being ever so many miles away from his birthplace, still has his biological clock centred on Russia. This is seen in his relating his own personal achievements to larger events back in Russia, for example his possible promotion is linked to sharing the year with ‘the hundredth anniversary of [the] Liberation of [the] Serfs’. Pnin is never really able to dissolve into and properly join American society, the image of his ‘wearing rubber gloves so as to avoid being stung by the amerikanski electricity in the metal of the shelving’ is more telling than it suggests at first glance. There is always some sort of a barrier between him and joining America, in this case the gloves. Indeed, in this case such a bond is seen as hazardous, as seen in the ‘amerikanski electricity’. Pnin desperately searches for a way to ‘become American’ and eventually realising that this cannot be achieved via emotional means he seeks to physically and literally become American. This is done through his purchasing of false teeth, a ‘firm mouthful of efficient, alabastrine, humane America’. The eventual message Nabokov seems to be enforcing thus must be that one will always belong to the land of their descendants and their childhood.  

Therefore, alongside all his attempts to push into the American orb, Pnin is also very nostalgic of the magical land of his infancy, remembering, with vivacity perhaps greater than that of his current surroundings in America, the ‘days of his fervid and receptive youth’. This sense of a yearning for the past is perhaps the main theme that links Pnin to Lolita, Nabokov’s most famed work.  He is however never really able to revel in this nostalgia, ‘sentiment’ being ‘burdensome’ to him, especially due to how the magical places and people of his youth had all been destroyed through the revolution in Russia. This leads on to a poignant passage in which the narrator speculates over Pnin’s wish to negate his past, in this particular case referring to one of the man’s childhood sweethearts:

‘one had to forget – because one could not live with the thought that this graceful, fragile, tender young woman with those eyes, that smile, those gardens and snows in the background, had been brought in a cattle car to an extermination camp and killed by an injection of phenol into the heart, into the gentle heart one had heard beating under one’s lips in the dusk of the past’

The essential, painful question being is this sort of nostalgia really healthy; when the actual truth is that much of the cause for this yearning for the past has been brutally destroyed.

Pnin is in many ways a humorous work, there being a whole list of intriguing, comedic characters. One has Victor, Pnin’s intellectual sort-of son, who is ‘a problem child insofar as he [refuses] to be one’, Pnin’s former wife, a rather terrible individual who refuses to settle down, moving from husband to husband with ease, and then of course Pnin himself, an example of the protagonist’s comedic value at its greatest coming during one of his mechanical, awkward conversations when he states that he ‘will now speak…about sport’. Pnin is a character with a remarkable sense of punctuality ingrained into him, a distinct individual (phrases such as ‘Pninian’ and ‘Pninizing’ cropping up throughout the work) but there is an overwhelmingly tragic sense about him and the whole work indeed, every laugh Nabokov offers comes in a background of deep sorrow and pity. He is an individual appreciative of the ‘security of his study’, so hostile has the outside world been to him, whose life trajectory is summed up in the first few pages of the novel:

‘began rather impressively…but ended, somewhat disappointingly’

Exile has halted the promises of adventure and joy present in his glorious youth and the novel itself shows no hope of things changing. Predominantly depicting the rather menial events of his life (getting new teeth, moving house etc.), the work shows no change in Pnin’s unfortunate position by the end, the last glimpse we have of the man being him travelling yet again to an unknown destination as his ‘thirty-five years of homelessness’ continue. 

A Quick Note on 'The Marriage Plot'

A Quick Note on ‘The Marriage Plot’

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel by Eugenides, a modern take on the traditional marriage plot, which relates a period of great self-development in the lives of its three protagonists in a bildungsroman-like manner, to such an extent that I’d really felt that my own odyssey with the characters was reaching its rather abrupt end. Leonard comes to realise that his manic depression is a problem that only he can sort out, Madeline matures from her originally stance as an impractical romantic whilst Mitchell goes on his own period of re-evaluation, done through religious means but not necessarily a religious one. Intelligence eludes off the pages of the work, not only through the hundreds of textual allusions and excerpts (which seems to suggest the importance of literature and textual analysis on the wider scheme of personal development), but also through Eugenides distinct portrayals of matters such as depression. The style of writing, namely re-evaluating events of the recent past from a place in the present also conveyed this overriding sense of analysis. I also found the tri-narrative structure to be rather effective, enforcing the idea that there is always more than one side to the story and so really giving the reader a sense of the wider picture. An inevitable question would surely be how does it compare with the books of Austen, Eliot and that famed literary crowd that it loosely attempts to emulate? In my opinion, due to the loss of the finite, eternal sense of marriage that predominates these earlier works, the interest in the essential marriage plot was limited. Leonard’s mental illness, causing much suffering to his marriage to Madeline seemed less of a problem with the ease of a divorce inevitably lurking around the corner. Dorothea Brooke’s frustration over her own marriage thus would certainly grip the reader more than Madeline’s. However, even though the central plot took a step into the background, I found the emotions and thoughts of the characters, particularly Leonard, to be more than suffice as a substitute. Thus, I would favour ‘The Marriage Plot’ over the most recent marriage plot work I have read, ‘Mansfield Park’. For the latter the marriages at the end seemed to be thrown in to as a last-ditch attempt to create some interest, the disappointing characters having failed in that arena, in essence the marriage plot attempted to create a needed distraction from the other aspects of the work. In ‘The Marriage Plot’ I found it to be the opposite. To conclude, I found Eugenides’ work a pleasant, but nonetheless effective read that I thoroughly enjoyed as a break from the more challenging writers that I’ve attempted this summer. Seeing that Leonard’s manic depression was to me the real star of the work, it seems that the author’s earlier works, namely ‘Middlemarch’ and ‘The Virgin Suicides’ would be suitable in terms of future readings, their explorations of the, often demented, human psyche seeming more apt for readers interested in those themes…clearly if I do eventually read them, I will feed back!

The Two Cultures (with a sprinkle of Frankenstein)

30th Post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Dear all,

In all honesty it's been a pretty hectic week and a bit and so I've unfortunately not been able to write a review on Shelley's Frankenstein, my most recent read, which I found to be a thrilling work with deep social repercussions, that really lived up to its hype. I have however copied the basis of a speech/presentation I have just finished on C P Snow's 'The Two Cultures', which I read about a month ago and found to be particularly relevant to myself, an individual currently studying sciences and humanities at a ratio of 1:1. So below you'll find that speech along with a Prezi presentation (which I have managed to sneak a Frankenstein quote into). Enjoy!

A summary and evaluation of C P Snow's 'The Two Cultures'

https://prezi.com/0grr6egnykxy/the-two-cultures-a-review/#   

(Click)

The book I decided to read over the summer was ‘The Two Cultures’ by C P Snow. Snow was by training a scientist, but by vocation a writer of fiction and so was perhaps in one of the best positions to comment on the issue that I shall go on to describe. The book itself contains notes from his controversial 1959 Rede Lecture, a self-re-evaluation four years later and an overall analysis on the worth and relevance of Snow’s suggestions nowadays by critic Stefan Collini. 

The work centres on the issue of the void between the world of literature and the humanities and the world of the sciences (click), something which Snow sees as spiking in the United Kingdom and instead of merely being a loss of contact, the void, in his opinion, has antagonistic traits. Snow sees this as being a massive drawback for societal advancement (click) , especially in a time of ‘scientific revolution’, and so sought out to use this lecture as a means to bring the issue to the forefront, suggest some means to fix the void and more importantly to leave the door open for the thoughts and considerations of others on this pressing issue.

The majority of Snow’s tirade appears as an attack on the ‘traditional’ literary culture, a group whom he terms ‘natural Luddites’ (click) after those who during the industrial revolution smashed up factories in opposition to industrial growth. He attacks literature from its sorest weak-points, namely outlining individuals such as Dostoevsky, who was a heavy reactionary, and T S Eliot, whose seemingly anti-Semitic manner remains as a blot on his otherwise sparkling career. He seems to suggest that individuals such as these, with their harshly reactionary views in fact represent the literary world as a whole. He also mocks the superiority the literary individuals often deign themselves with, noting how many believe that ‘[literature] swim[s] above the underswell of argument in a changing culture.’ Equally Snow undermines this reactionary view, quoting J H Plumb (click) to challenge those who wish for a reversion to the old times when science was a rarity. The main issue I had with this, which I will later outline, is that the parallel criticism for the sciences as being self-centred or too liberal even just was not there and there was a real hint of bias and antagonism against the literatures. 

Snow emphasises throughout the lecture and his afterword that we are living in a time of scientific revolution (click) and equally how it is ‘anti-human’ to oppose it, noting the humanitarian ventures that development in the practical sciences can give rise to (increased aid, injections for horrific diseases, means to improve farming practises so as to feed this growing populace etc.) and how we should seek to encourage scientific revolutions in other countries, speeding up the process that he sees an being inevitable. We’re living in a time ‘when science is determining much of our destiny’ and thus the literary culture needs to adapt itself to the imminent society that will arise, one dominated by science and technology…but it just isn’t doing this, the void between the two worlds stymieing any sort of advancement. (click and leave for 5 secs). 

This problem, this void, in Snow’s opinion, can principally be fixed by education (click). Education at Snow’s time was heavily specialised with one choosing to go to the literary club or the science club as young as fourteen. Through education this mutual ignorance between the two cultures, which constitutes much of their mutual antagonistic attitudes, can be fixed. Through understanding more about one another’s way of thinking, one can develop a greater sense of respect and acceptance of others interests. 

Education also acts as a means for us to instate further the scientific direction in which society is going. Snow gives an example of how our failing to do so in England has led to our lagging in the global race, this is the example of Siemens and Mond (click), who took advantage of science being taught at German Unis at the time to set up mass economic empires, showcasing how our narrow educational mindset has let us down many a time before. Snow also heavily contrasts our education system with the then USSR, often unfavourably. At the time the relative abundance of engineers in the country far superseded that of the UK. Snow is clearly outlining how to get a firmer basis and advance as a state, one needs to adapt their education system and prioritise what is needed, in this case scientists. Education will also add to the humanitarian (click) venture Snow wishes us to follow. Thus the overall message seems to be a demand for us to turn away from disconnected thinking and whether we are a scientist or writer, whichever of the ‘cultures’ we belong to, to get stuck in with the practical side of things and make the world a better place than it is now. Snow is emphasising that although many literary persons would go on to say that the human condition is stuck and un-improvable, the social condition can be made better. This idea of using both cultures for a greater good will inevitably reduce the void. Equally this humanitarian cause nulls the question of whether the void doesn't need to be fixed, whether there’s usefulness in the contention. 

Collini, in his afterword, furthers this suggestion emphasising the need for a ‘larger cultural  whole’. This suggests the need for all of us, in political and social matters, adding our expertise in whatever field we belong to, in order to reach a well-rounded decision. 

Following the talk, once the issues discussed started gaining momentum, a massive backlash occurred. The most shocking, personal and hurtful opposition for Snow’s suggestions came from the literary critic F R Leavis (click). In his responding essay he noted things such as Snow’s ‘utter lack of intellectual distinction’ and ‘his embarrassing vulgarity of style’ and challenged his very position in delivering such a lecture, highlighting how he had failed as a scientist (despite originally believing to have found the means to produce vitamin A in the lab, he turned out to be wrong and gave up science from the embarrassment that ensued) and that his literature left much to be desired (Snow’s literary series ‘Strangers and Brothers’ (click) being of a similar status as 50 Shades of Grey (bit harsh) at its time). Collini, joining the many criticising this personal assault, has suggested that the criticism came more from Leavis’ disdain for Snow’s form of presentation rather than the actual content whilst others have criticised Leavis for this response, noting how emotions got in the way of reason. 

This is indeed a very emotionally conflicting piece of debate (click), having deep roots in history. First originating as an issue debated in the 19^th Century, the first public debate came between Huxley (father of Aldous Huxley) and Arnold, Huxley outlining the need for science for national well being and thus how it should not be overlooked as a subject and Arnold responding that a training in the natural sciences, although producing a useful worker did not, in his opinion, make an ‘educated man’. Equally there is the sense that this is not merely a battle of cultural interests or preference, but one that had deep social roots. Indeed Collini contrasts the ‘meritocracy’ of science, a relatively new way of thinking having been started by those slightly lower down the social ladder than the aristocratic literary critics who held ‘snobbish and nostalgic attitudes’. This was not just a matter of intellect, but also a matter of class…

In reading Snow’s Two Cultures the issue of bias became rather predominant, indeed Collini noting how ‘there can be no other interpretation of his lecture than that it takes towards literature a position of extreme antagonism’. However, despite originally being rather frustrated by this, an individual seemingly wishing to stop the antagonism between the two cultures is approaching one with antagonism himself!, I came to understand the reason for this bias. It is understandable seen in the context of the times. Literature as a force had far greater longevity and has stood for far longer than the sciences, thus literary antagonism for this new, threatening force was far more deep rooted than vice versa and so, in Snow’s eyes, was the overwhelming basis of the problem. Collini however helps to outline how even in a scientific world, we still need both scientific and literary mindsets but looking to the example of politics. Politics needs to be both pragmatic and ideological, the quantitative, pragmatic way of thinking being more scientific whilst the abstract, ideological manner being more literary. We need both!

There is a lot to criticise about Snow’s approach and form of presentation, his lecture being decidedly vague and withheld. Dividing the whole way of thinking into two is incredibly basic, there are many voids within the sciences and the literatures themselves, he suggests education is needed to fix the problem but makes little suggestions of exactly how. He uses extreme examples to illustrate the literary world as a whole and is deeply stereotypical in viewing each individual of each culture as holding such starkly similar views. He also seems to completely neglect the fact that people might not define themselves merely as scientists or literary critics but also see themselves through their gender, religion, nationality, sexuality etc. and that these other divisions might actually deem the ones he’s talking about as negligible. (This is also seen in Collini’s suggestion that this humanitarian aid Snow sees as being needed, inducing scientific revolutions in third world countries, pays no heed to cultural objections that might arise by such a seeming sense of colonialism). He’s also incredibly binary in his conclusion, he neglects the whole argument of this void not even being in existence, the sciences after all being heavily based on metaphors and the imagination (has anyone actually seen an action potential in action here?). However, although the work itself was deeply flawed, the fact that an afterword four years later was needed in order to clear up issues with the first work is deeply telling, it was successful in its ultimate aim…to spark discussion. 

One does have to note how all of this was going on in the 1960s, now, over 50 years later, the question arises as whether 1) the issue is still relevant and if so 2) how far we have improved on fixing the void. It is certain that the hold of science on both intellectual and everyday life has increased multi-fold. We use technology every day, indeed many could not live without it (click). Equally science’s part on the national curriculum has increased substantially, it being required teaching up to the age of 16. Now with science’s hold increasing the number of science-based jobs is also multiplying, meaning that there’s been an even greater focus on the subject from the masses. Snow himself predicted that the arising of molecular biology as a force would significantly lessen this void, it being a part of science without any need of mathematical training for comprehension. Indeed Snow himself termed it ‘a study where painters and sculptors could be instantaneously at home’ and it is also important how biological life is not something so distant from this world as say the cosmos, thus biology is an important factor in linking the two separate voids. 

The void has further been fixed through science being placed on the same a pedestal as an art, just as the literatures and many claiming it to be as politically swayed as its counterpart (the direction and aim of one’s experiments after all being heavily influenced by ones cultural context and surroundings). There has also been the arising of a new sub-culture of learning, ‘science and literature’. Indeed this was rather common in the various university courses I’ve looked over, indeed at one day I was treated to an impassioned plea by one English tutor, a scientist by training, of the need to combine the two cultures. Science fiction has also gone from strength to strength, the perfect combining of the two, moving on from its originators such as Shelley to recent films such as Interstellar and, of course, the Alien franchise. Furthermore there has been an upsurge in what Collini terms intellectual ‘bilingualism’, namely individuals portraying their studies and opinions on complex matters in a manner accessible to the masses, exemplified namely by the scientist Richard Dawkins and the philosopher Alain de Botton to name a few. However, he emphasises how we still need more of this. Essentially one shouldn’t be shut into the void of their own specialisation but, as a matter of necessity, must aim to contribute to the wider global discussion and so aide progression in social, political and economic matters.

As regards to whether the issue is still relevant, I would say certainly. Even though the specific void between the sciences and literatures has certainly lessened, the wider idea of divisions and antagonistic views slackening a society’s development is one that can be learned from and used in a whole variety of social and political contexts today. (click)

Is Beowulf Relevant in Today's Society?

Is Beowulf relevant in today's society?



'Doom of the Lord was law o'er the deeds of every man, as it is to-day'?

Beowulf, the oldest known English text, was certainly of deep contrast to the American Post-Modernism which of recent has come to dominate by reading of late. Written between the 8th and 11th centuries, originating originally in the spoken form, it has often been called the 'foundational epic' of British culture and thus, giving its ancient status, the question that I wished to answer in reading the poem is whether the Anglo-Saxon tale still has resonances in today's society (as epitomized by the opening quote which can be read in the wider scheme of tings as to whether Beowulf itself it still relevant today).

Beowulf is a poem with heavily Christian inferences and allusions, indeed the main theme definitely has to be that of supporting the argument for pre-determination, there being a real sense of the 'destined path' for the characters. Phrases such as 'the Lord has sent him', 'stone-bright the street: it showed the way' (the street symbolizing the metaphysical path which is already laid out for us in life) and 'forced of fate' (the dense fricative alliteration evoking the sense of a force pushing one along through the sound created) are abundant throughout the text. Equally there is a lot of biblical symbolism found in Beowulf, most notably that of Heorot the 'bright and golden palace' of Hrothgar that is polluted and made a threatening lair for the evil monster Grendel. This concept somewhat alludes to the garden of Eden, that pure and grand place, being ruined by the serpent, the devil. Equally it is no coincidence that on Beowulf's last expedition, a clan of twelve accompany him (indicating a nod to the twelve disciples). Due to this there is a real sense of Beowulf acting almost as a parable of sorts, the protagonist's pious life being one which we should all aim to replicate and this could be seen by some, in an increasingly secular society, as undermining the work's relevance considerably.

Beowulf also depicts a rather foreign and distant way of life, not merely thanks to the supernatural contact. The society portrayed is one based upon honor and war, one section indeed praising a ship for being decorated with 'weapons of war and weeds of battle, with breastplate and blade', the w and plosive alliteration in the section adding to the exaggerated sense of greatness. Furthermore one of the other main themes of the work is questioning the then serious issue of battles arising in order to avenge a death, and this could seem rather irrelevant for today's society. However the fact that this question is explored on essentially human terms, Beowulf saying that 'it beseems us better friends to avenge than fruitlessly mourn them' (indicating that physical acting on an individual's death through war is beneficial through the sense of closure that it affords) means that it is transcendent. Conversely, much of Beowulf's political power and influence arises from his mighty deeds and battle wins, this perhaps further adding to the cause of insignificance. However, the essential moral that physical accomplishments are not enough, as exemplified by the line 'thou art strong of main and in mind art wary', reflects the need for being well-rounded in terms of the mind and good deeds also. Furthermore, the fact that ultimately Beowulf is most praised as a leader for  '[caring] for [his] own; [not seeking] feuds, nor falsely [swearing] ever on oath' outlines the concept of our good deeds towards others as superseding other sorts of accomplishments in importance.

Thus essentially Beowulf remains relevant even in today's society primarily through the timeless moral teachings that it presents, whether it be the sense of karma (as seen in 'their wage was paid them!'), the sense of hope in that evil can be overcome (as seen in 'the worm (dragon) was consumed'), the importance of family (as showcased in 'kinship true can never be marred in a noble mind!') or the insignificance of wealth in the wider scheme of things (as illuminated by the imagery of 'dear-decked swords eaten with rust'). These sorts of morals remain valid today, regardless of whether they are approached through a religious lens or not and there lies Beowulf's power. Equally Beowulf remains just as an exciting read as it was at the many years ago at its conception through the dragons, monsters and heroic battles that fill its pages, that will for sure enchant many even today.

If This Is A Man/The Truce

If This Is A Man/The Truce Book Review

If This Is A Man (first publ. 1947), Primo Levi's first book, and its successor The Truce (publ. 1963) are two works best read together, the former details Levi's time spent in the hellish extermination camp Auschwitz, whilst the latter tells of his gradual return back to home and some sense of normality. I found both to be exemplary, emotional works, being substantially levied to another level of appreciation thanks to Levi's wise, gentle, calm tone maintained throughout despite the shocking and horrific events being described and ended up finishing the duo with a far more hopeful outlook on life and the human seed in general than ever before.

The main aim and effect of such an extermination camp as Auschwitz in Levi's opinion is to first and foremost destroy destroy the man psychologically, so that he loses any sense of humanity, this meaning that by the time it comes to destroy him physically there's nothing much left to destroy. Hence the prisoners being 'locked in, naked, sheared and standing', the sibilant sounds along with the use of the verb 'sheared' helping to enforce the idea of livestock, not humans, being treated here. One loses there name to become merely a number in a long list of others, it being his individual quirks and flaws that makes a man just that, thus the line 'melting into a single substance' in describing the camp inmates is particularly disturbing. To be a man also one must have an opinion, an opinion which they are able to act upon and voice, a quality that was viciously beaten out of the Jews at the hands of the Nazis, as seen in the saddening line, 'here we are, docile under your gaze; from our side you have nothing more to fear; no acts of violence, no words of defiance, not even a look of judgement'. Here it is the repetition of negating, negative lexis that adds to the bleak outlook. Equally the sense of the long-term mind-set lost in Auschwitz and ability to plan for the future is something that one must appreciate in its existence, the line 'the problem of the remote future has grown pale to them and has lost all intensity in face of far more urgent and concrete problems of the near future' exemplifying this overwhelming sense of the short term.  Perhaps the main quality of man that Levi outlines as being lost in such an environment is his ability for compassion, a 'every-man-for-himself' mind-set coming to dominate matters, indeed it is noted that 'survival without renunciation of any part of one's own moral world...was conceded only to very few superior individuals, made of the stuff of martyrs and saints'. Reading and envisaging these scenes I really came to appreciate the fact that I have the ability to showcase and utilize such ways of acting and felt a huge incubus to voice my opinions, stick to what makes me an individual and most importantly be kind, for not everyone in this world has the ability to do so. Levi, in his afterword, reflects that it was perhaps his sustained insistence to 'recognize always, even in the darkest days, in [his] companions and in [his self], men, not things', though certain guide-like figures were needed to ensure that this belief was maintained against the opposing force of Nazi brutality. The most notable of these guides is Lorenzo, a local civilian who gave Levi food for around 6 months meaning that Levi, besides benefiting in terms of the typical type of nourishment, was spiritually nourished. Indeed, he makes the following observation:

'his humanity was pure and uncontaminated, he was outside this world of negation. Thanks to Lorenzo, I managed not to forget that I myself was a man'

Thus another clear message of the two books is never to lose one's humanity, this is more essential and important than our physical needs. Critic Paul Bailey, integrating one of Levi's morals in If This Is A Man ('we must not become beasts; that even in this place one can survive, and therefore one must want to survive, to tell the story, to bear witness; and that to survive we must force ourselves to save at least the skeleton, the scaffolding, the form of civilization') indeed reflects how both works, and all of Levi's writings in general, essentially 'remind us that the scaffolding is worth saving.' 

The sense of lost humanity only starts to be revoked near the very end of If This Is A Man, being regained further in The Truce, leading to beautiful and, most importantly, hopeful scenes. One of the main turning points in the two works comes when an individual in the same hospital barracks as Levi offers up his ration to Levi and two others, who have been slaving all day to get food supplies, the camp having been evacuated by the Germans. Levi notes how 'only a day before a similar event would have been inconceivable', reflecting how slowly, gradually humanity is reviving. Gradually human relationships start to become more important to Levi and his fellow survivors, in The Truce indeed he notes how 'the need for human contact is to be numbered among the primordial needs' and images such as that evoked by the trek in the snow in which 'each [person] like a blind man, [holds] on to the man in front' help to illuminate the beauty of relationships and human contact. Indeed, The Truce acts rather as a celebration of man, in all his forms, shapes, sizes, personalities and nationalities. You have the lovable rogue Cesare (who sells a brass ring brought for four rubles to an unfortunate individual, believing it to be gold, for fifty), the ominous Greek Mordo Nahum who holds the belief that every moment of ones life should be profitable, the cold, hostile Russian Lieutenant who turns out to be 'a passionate fan of tap-dancing in his spare time' and many others. The variety of humanity ends up being celebrated and appreciated in a really heart-warming manner and this is what both books really attempt to do, celebrate man and the human condition, expressing how there is still yet hope.

Despite the essentially hopeful tone to both works, Levi does also face the bleaker skies ahead for man. For instance, liberation from Auschwitz does not lead to an instant rush of joy and happiness, a horrific event has just occurred, with less that 5% of the Italians sent to the concentration camps returning, Levi frequently making biblical allusions (to be more precise allusions from the Torah) in lines such as 'liberty...had not taken us to the Promised Land', a line which, although in the practical sense referring to the length of the process of returning home, on a wider scale reflects how things will never return back or advance to an uncontaminated level of happiness, there will always be dangerous flaws and faults in the human condition, but for every negative flaw, there are a whole multitude to be celebrated. Equally Levi receives several warnings throughout The Truce from various characters, most notably The Greek, that 'this life is a war', inferring that the persecution that has faced the Jews over the centuries will not suddenly stop, even in the face of such an atrocity as the extermination camps being revealed, persecution will always have to be fought against. It is also notable how Levi chose to end The Truce by an a scene inferring how his trauma will not end, the 'Auschwitz caesura' will continue to have a massive effect on him. The last scene refers to Levi's continual nightmare and the voice, that evokes so many negative emotions, returning...

'it is the dawn command of Auschwitz, a foreign word, feared and expected: get up, 'Wstawach' 

I also got a real sense of the importance of literature and language on the human condition and human relationships in general through both works. The former is best seen in If This Is A Man in which Levi struggles to teach a few verses of Dante's to a French camp-mate, eventually making the observation that '[he] would give today's soup to know how to connect' two separate sections. Literature gives a source of spiritual nourishment, which is far more valuable than physical nourishment, it is a means to keep our humanity, something needed in such a dehumanizing place as Auschwitz. The importance of language is a theme that appears frequently throughout The Truce, (though both books are filled to the brim with a whole cacophony of languages whether it be Yiddish, German, Russian, French or Polish) Levi noting how the 'difficulties of language reduced' him and one Russian guard to a 'stunted and primordial' relationship, whilst equally noting how his tagging on with the Greek only occurred through their being 'drawn together by having two languages in common'. Thus Levi's extensive knowledge of languages (at one point he carries 'on the most extravagant and chaotic conversation in Latin' with a Priest so as to find out where the local cathedral is) certainly acted as an influential force in guiding him back home.

Levi notes in his afterword how he doubts that he would have ended up as a writer had it not been for Auschwitz, noting how he felt as if he had books stored in his brain waiting to be released upon his return, hence relating the 'liberating joy of recounting [his] story'. However, although there is a real sense of Levi having written both books for himself, as a means to reveal the story that has to be heard, no matter how unsavory it is, reading them is still an enriching and rewarding process for the reader. If This Is A Man and The Truce are also essential psychological tools, being more an evaluation of the human condition than an account of the events in and out of Auschwitz, as seen in the line 'no human experience is without meaning or unworthy of analysis, and...fundamental values, even if they are not positive, can be deduced from this particular world which we are describing'. There's also the sense of an even more personal reason for Levi writing such an account, a means for closure, indeed the idea of setting up a 'screen' between the horrific past and the present is something expressed frequently throughout The Truce, this perhaps being a reason for the Greek 'workaholic' tendencies, activity being a means to prevent the need to stop and think about what one has just endured. Levi's writing style is extraordinary, despite being so badly treated at the hands of the Germans in the extermination camps and having the full right to present events in a vengeful, exaggerated light or to conversely present the Jews themselves as white, holy, innocent victims, Levi chose the path of neutrality, using the 'calm, sober language of witness'. This neutral, honest depiction adds further weight to what Levi's presenting, the truth speaks for itself and is equally, if not more powerful than the exaggerated accounts of many of his contemporaries. It also makes reading If This Is A Man and The Truce more comfortable than they would otherwise be, the reader being able to judge and evaluate matters in a calmer mind-set, making the experience of reading all the more special. Critic Paul Bailey indeed lauds this 'freedom from self-indulgence' chosen by Levi, outlining his expectations for the duo to be viewed as classics in Britain and America in years to come, as they are already viewed in Levi's native Italy. As always with Levi I found little to criticize about either work and thoroughly recommend them both for individuals looking for a truthful, personal account of events in Poland 1944-5, those who enjoy books with a psychological framework or those looking for an easy, yet thought-provoking and powerful, read.