This book examines acclaimed Italian author and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi's life through his works - describing and analyzing his ability to reinvent his world through his writing. Tracing the strands of Levi's writing from his childhood through to his internment at Auschwitz, his careers as scientist and writer, and his eventual depression and death, author Sam Magavern delivers a literary biography in the truest sense. Levi's art (his "cosmos") and life are inextricably intertwined and Magavern presents them together, allowing each to shed light on the other.