The scope of this collection of previously untranslated work is vast: the stories jump from hiking expeditions in a primordial wilderness to the death of a star billions of light years away. There is, however, an overarching theme – nature’s triumph over the machinations of man. In “The Molecule’s Defiance”, an industrial accident is a rebellion of minerals against technology, an assertion of the “prevalence of confusion over order”. Levi saw the creative process itself as a force of nature: transient, unpredictable, capricious. In “The Fugitive”, an office clerk composes a brilliant poem, only to find that the piece of paper takes on a life of its own.
While some tales are self-consciously wacky, others are located in a precise historical moment. “The Death of Marinese” records the short, sharp end of a fever-addled POW in a truck full of German soldiers. But Levi made his best points through humour: “Censorship in Bitinia” is a playful farce in which chickens are employed by a police state; “Gladiators” features a duel between two forklifts.
Throughout, Levi’s outlook is thoughtful, quirky and wry. He captured arresting (and sometimes preposterous) images in a refreshingly understated and delicate style.
