La chiave a stella (The Monkey’s Wrench, also published as The Wrench) was published by Einaudi in 1978 and won the Premio Strega, Italy’s most prestigious literary award. The narrator — a chemist clearly based on Levi himself — meets Libertino Faussone, a Piedmontese rigger who has worked on construction projects across the world. Over a series of evenings, Faussone tells stories of his work: erecting bridges in India, installing derricks in Alaska, assembling radio towers in Africa.
The book is Levi’s hymn to craftsmanship — to the satisfaction of skilled technical work done well. Faussone is not an intellectual but he is intelligent: he understands his materials (steel, cable, concrete) with the same intimacy that Levi understands chemicals. His stories are about problem-solving: how to raise a heavy beam when the crane fails, how to find a flaw in a cable that no one else can see, how to improvise solutions when the engineering drawings don’t match reality.
Levi’s argument is philosophical: work — genuine skilled work that engages both hands and mind — is one of the essential human goods. The book implicitly contrasts the degraded, meaningless labor of Auschwitz (designed to humiliate rather than produce) with the creative satisfaction of work freely chosen and competently executed. Without ever mentioning the camp, the book is Levi’s most powerful statement about what human beings need in order to live with dignity.
Collecting The Monkey’s Wrench
First edition (Einaudi, Turin, 1978): Cloth with dust jacket.
First English edition (Michael Joseph, London, 1987): As The Wrench.
US edition (Summit Books, 1986): As The Monkey’s Wrench.
Market values:
- Einaudi first (1978): $75–$200
- English/US firsts: $30–$75
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Monkey Wrench about? Also published as The Wrench, the novel follows Libertino Faussone, a Piedmontese rigger who travels the world building bridges, oil rigs, and industrial structures, and tells stories about his work. Levi uses Faussone’s tales to celebrate skilled labour — the satisfaction of making things well, the bond between a craftsman and his materials. The novel won the Strega Prize (Italy’s most prestigious literary award) in 1979.