Primo Michele Levi (Italian: [ˈpriːmo ˈlɛːvi]; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was an Italian chemist, partisan, writer, and Jewish Holocaust survivor. He was the author of several books, collections of short stories, essays, poems and one novel. His best-known works include If This Is a Man (1947, published as Survival in Auschwitz in the United States), his account of the year he spent as a prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland; and The Periodic Table (1975), linked to qualities of the elements, which the Royal Institution named the best science book ever written.Levi died in 1987 from injuries sustained in a fall from a third-story apartment landing. His death was officially ruled a suicide, but some, after careful consideration, have suggested that the fall was accidental because he left no suicide note, there were no witnesses, and he was on medication that could have affected his blood pressure and caused him to fall accidentally.
普里莫•莱维(Primo Levi,1919—1987),意大利最重要的作家之一,亦是化学家和奥斯维辛174517号囚犯——这两种身份与经历建立了他写作的基础。
莱维1919年出生于意大利都灵,1943年因参与反法西斯运动被捕,后被遣送至奥斯维辛集中营。战争结束后,他回到故乡都灵生活。1987年自杀身亡。同样是奥斯维辛幸存者的作家埃利·威塞尔说:“早在四十年前的奥斯维辛时代,莱维已死。”莱维的作品涉及诗歌、小说、回忆录等各个领域。主要作品有《活在奥斯维辛》(Survival in Auschwitz)、《再度觉醒》(The Reawakening)、《缓刑时刻》(Moments of Reprieve)、《元素周期表》(The Periodic Table)、《若非此时,何时?》(If Not Now, When?)、《猴子的扳手》(The Monkey’s Wrench)、《被淹没和被拯救的》(The Drowned and the Saved)等。