The Holocaust was in full force in Italy, yet few critics consider the works of representative writers of the Holocaust as a whole. Sodi (Italian, Yale U.) examines the work of Levi, Bassani
and Morante along with the lesser-known Paolo Maurensig, Liana Millu, Bruno Piazza and Giuliana Tedeschi, evaluating their similarities and differences in genre, language, gender and reliance
on fact while at the same time placing them within the fields of European and Holocaust literature. He provides able summaries of Italian Holocaust writing and the history of the Italian Jews,
then works through testimony literature such as Levi's works and those of Piazza on memory, Tedeschi as survivor, and Millu's efforts to create a women's Holocaust literature. Sodi then
evaluates works of fiction and the associated negotiable elements of history, time and questions of who is a "real Jew." Annotation 穢2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
