Primo Levi: An Island of Reason for Troubled Times
A series of four lectures devoted to Primo Levi’s «The Drowned and the Saved», revisited forty years after its publication from the perspectives of political philosophy, psychology, literature and law.
Description
Four interdisciplinary lectures on Primo Levi’s The Drowned and the Saved.
The lectures will also be livestreamed on Zoom
The programme
26 November 2026 | Cremona, Palazzo Raimondi, Aula Magna
Simona Forti, Scuola Normale Superiore
«Esiste una violenza utile?»
Link streaming Zoom
30 November 2026 | Pavia, Università di Pavia, Aula Foscolo
Institutional greetings from the Rector, Alessandro Reali
Tomaso Vecchi, Università di Pavia
«La memoria è uno strumento meraviglioso ma fallace»
Link streaming Zoom
2 December 2026 | Pavia, Università di Pavia, Aula Volta
Robert Gordon, University of Cambridge
«L’uso delle parole era caduto in disuso»
Link streaming Zoom
15 December 2026 | Pavia, Collegio Ghislieri, Aula Goldoniana
Sergio Seminara, Università di Pavia
«La condizione di offeso non esclude la colpa»
Link streaming Zoom
The project
The culmination of Primo Levi’s long reflection on human behaviour in extreme situations, The Drowned and the Saved is an “island of reason”: the setting for an intellectual journey at once measured and relentless.
An undisputed literary masterpiece, the book is also crucial for the civic and moral questions that run through it: violence, memory, language as an instrument of survival, and individual responsibility.
Forty years after its publication, scholars from different disciplines – political philosophy, psychology, literature and law – engage with the questions, more urgent today than ever, that one of the great works of twentieth-century European thought continues to raise.
The project, curated by Mariarosa Bricchi (Department of Musicology and Cultural Heritage, University of Pavia, Cremona campus), has been made possible with the support of Fondazione Cariplo. The lecture series forms part of the teaching activities of the University of Pavia’s PhD programmes in Scienze del Testo Letterario e Musicale and in Diritto Pubblico, Giustizia Penale e Internazionale, and is held under the patronage of the Municipalities of Pavia and Cremona and Collegio Ghislieri, Pavia.
Advance booking is recommended for classes and school groups. Students and teachers from upper secondary schools who attend the lectures may request a certificate of attendance. For bookings and certificate requests, please contact sofia.andreoli@unipv.it
