Racconti e saggi (The Mirror Maker: Stories and Essays) was published by Einaudi in 1986. It collects later stories and essays — some science fiction, some literary criticism, some philosophical meditation — from the final decade of Levi’s life. The title story concerns a man who makes mirrors of extraordinary perfection, raising questions about truth, reflection, and the relationship between reality and its representations.
The collection continues both strands of Levi’s non-testimonial work: the science fiction fables (stories exploring moral questions through scientific premises) and the essays on language, literature, and the nature of knowledge. The range is characteristic: a story about a sentient computer sits beside an essay on the evolution of Italian dialects; a fable about a substance that produces happiness neighbors a meditation on Rabelais.
This is late Levi — a writer completely in command of multiple registers, moving between fiction and essay, between science and literature, with absolute confidence. The collection demonstrates that Levi was not merely a great memoirist who sometimes wrote fiction, but a genuine literary artist whose range extended far beyond the testimonial works for which he is primarily known.
Collecting The Mirror Maker
First edition (Einaudi, Turin, 1986): As Racconti e saggi. Cloth with dust jacket.
First English edition (Schocken, New York, 1989): Translated by Raymond Rosenthal.
Market values:
- Einaudi first (1986): $40–$100
- English first (Schocken, 1989): $20–$50
Projected values (2026–2036): Modest appreciation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Mirror Maker? A collection of short stories and essays that showcase Levi’s range as a writer of fiction. The stories combine science fiction, fable, and philosophical parable — imagining encounters between humans and aliens, exploring the ethics of technology, and testing the boundaries of human identity. Levi’s fiction, less well known than his memoirs, reveals a writer of remarkable imaginative invention.
Where should I start with Primo Levi? If This Is a Man (also titled Survival in Auschwitz) is the essential starting point, followed by its sequel The Truce. For Levi the scientist-writer, The Periodic Table is indispensable. For his mature philosophical reflection, The Drowned and the Saved is his most demanding and rewarding work.