So, I thought that I would write about Chaper 4, in which Levi introduces us to Null Achtzehn, Zero Eighteen. Levi tells that this is the only name that he has for him, "as if everyone was aware that only a man is worthy of a name, and that Null Achtzehn is no longer a man" (42). I had thought that I would use this passage to talk about the psychological effects about a person being reduced to a number, and how Levi himself must resort to this "name" every single time that he refers to Null Achtzehn. There is definitely more to discuss about this, which is why I wanted to bring it up, but every time that I try to delve into this loss-of-name/loss-of-humanity that the camps utilize, I just become so distracted by the final interview at the end of the book.
I'm pretty sure that nearly all of our copies include the interview between Primo Levi and Philip Roth, but I can't help but wonder why.
After reading Survival in Auschwitz / If This Is a Man, I don't know why the publishers needed to place this interview at the end of the book, making it, in effect, Levi's final words on the subject. I wonder if they felt the need to finalize Levi's story and show that he had a life outside of Auschwitz and was able to look back at his story subjectively?
I don't believe that this is a well-done interview either. Roth's questions are long-winded, like he must have pre-written them and had been reading them from a piece of paper as he questioned Levi. This of course, makes the interview less organic, having Roth steer the conversation and at times make implications and assumptions that Levi then must turn into his own points. Yet, despite this, I feel that Levi leads the conversation, and that impressed me.
There were moments that I enjoyed in this interview, mostly learning that Levi had made the copper wire animals. There is something wonderfully poetic about that.
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