The Periodic Table

Primo Levi · 1919–1987 · Italy

Originally Il sistema periodico (Italian) · translated by Raymond Rosenthal

Why it matters

Twenty-one chapters, each named for an element, braiding chemistry, memoir, and the war into a singular form. Levi finds in matter itself a way to narrate a Jewish-Italian life across catastrophe.

At a glance

Chemistry conceits structure each chapter, demanding some scientific literacy.