La tregua

(The Truce)

(The Reawakening)

Levi began thinking about writing La tregua *(The Reawakening) soon after he finished Survival in Auschwitz, but it was not until 1962 that he completed the definitive manuscript, which was published in 1963 by Einaudi. This work gives clear indications of his talent as a writer. Critics and readers alike received it favorably, and it was awarded the Campiello prize, one of Italy's most prestigious recognitions for literary work. The first English version was published in 1965 under the more accurate title The Truce, and it was reprinted several times for distribution in the United States. Although the British and American editions are the same version, translated by Stuart Woolf, the American edition includes an "Afterword," translated by Ruth Feldman, in which Levi responds to questions he was asked frequently. Another difference between these editions is the title itself. The Reawakening, the title of the American version, does not correspond to La tregua, its Italian title. As he did with Survival in Auschwitz, Philip Roth questions the accuracy of the translated title. However, with The Reawakening there is evidence that it was Levi who insisted on a different title, perhaps for copyright purposes. Overruling the editor's request to use Moments of Truce, the author got his wish in adopting as the book's title that of its last chapter, "Il risveglio."

All this would be of little importance were it not that the title may mislead the reader into believing it was Levi's intention to communicate an optimistic future beyond the time period of the story. However, The Reawakening is ironic as a title, as the reader will notice. What occurs is a reawakening to the vicissitudes and hardships of everyday life, one that will be marred by the constant memory of the horrors of the Lager or prison, and of the Holocaust. It is not a reawakening that erases the memories and sensations of what has been suffered. The word truce, from the title of the first American/British version, provides a better description of the author's time between his release from Auschwitz and his arrival back at home. It is the period of respite, of relative stasis during which Levi benefits from the opportunity to measure himself against the actions and behavior of others, as it allows him some lighthearted, relatively untroubled time before stepping again into the "normal" life that awaits him in Italy.

This second book is a natural continuation of his first work, Survival in Auschwitz, and, in an indirect way, also the precursor of his work written twenty years later, If Not Now, When? Both this earlier work and the later one have as a central theme the return to Italy after a series of trying and some dangerous adventures. In The Reawakening, following his liberation from Auschwitz by the Russians, Levi undertakes a journey of almost a year, which brings him back to Italy by way of Russia, Rumania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria (twice), and Germany.

In The Reawakening Levi maintains the stylistic clarity and the rational focus on his objectives that were evident in his first work. He presents his account in a language faithful to the moral tone of the events he describes rejecting flowery descriptions and "ideological provocations." Levi writes concisely, with a marked preference for the paratactic style. He maintains tight rein over his use of descriptive adjectives. On rare occasions, however, he uses adjectives more liberally to convey the psychological intensity of a character or a character's behavior. Likewise, he is more expansive in structure when he deems it justified to create an emotive mood. On the whole, the prose is clean and concise, and Levi revels himself a skilled storyteller.

There are critics who have noted that The Reawakening lacks the compactness and unity of Survival in Auschwitz. To take this position indicates a lack of understanding about the essence of the second work. While it is natural to connect this book to the previous one, it may be unfair to expect the books to be alike in style. If we are to take the author at his word, we must remember that his motivation for writing Survival in Auschwitz was his need to tell. Although The Reawakening is the continuation of the first work chronologically, from the standpoint of when and why the author writes it, it is a work deliberately planned and organized, with specific artistic aims in mind. By the time he wrote the second book, Levi's distance from the actual events had cushioned his painful reactions; thus he could afford emotionally to use memories to literary advantage. The Reawakening is less structurally compact than Survival in Auschwitz because its form is designed to enhance an uninhibited description of the changes the author-character undergoes as he reenters society.

The narrative varies in accordance with the psychological conditions to which the author is subjected. The somber and dramatically tense rhythm in the first part of the book reflects the understandable fear that accompanies his liberation from Auschwitz. He uses the lighter tempo of the second part of the story to present episodes that are livelier and more specific to the emotion associated with his growing trust in the actuality of his freedom.

*La tregua ("The Truce") was recently made into a motion picture, directed by Francesco Rosi and starring John Turturro. (For information on movie click here )