The Wrench - Stories

Stories

The job of a rigger is to set up cranes and scaffolding and to manage major mechanical projects. One of Faussone's jobs is to sort out a problem with an acetic acid separation column which goes through a cycle of making loud noises and shaking, before settling down again. It turns out the ceramic contents of the column have disintegrated and have formed a sludge at the bottom. This is precisely what happened at SIVA to a column that Levi designed.

The story, one of many in the book, is about troubleshooting, and the forensic investigation skills needed to solve industrial problems. The skills include being able to assess the facts of a failure, analyse them in the light of the product design, and once the root cause has been identified, act to correct the mistake or mistakes so as to prevent further events of the same kind.

Levi always felt that satisfying work was essential for a happy life, and the honest hands-on work of someone who also used his intellect was the highest form of work. Faussone was his ideal. Life is a series of problems which one has to use ones brains and ones hands to resolve.

Works by Primo Levi
Novels
  • The Wrench
  • If Not Now, When?
Short story collections
  • The Sixth Day and Other Tales
  • The Periodic Table
  • The Search for Roots
  • A Tranquil Star
  • The Mirror Maker
Essay collections
  • Other People's Trades
  • The Drowned and the Saved
  • The Mirror Maker
  • The Black Hole of Auschwitz
Poetry
  • The Search for Roots
  • Collected Poems
Non-fiction
  • If This Is a Man
  • The Truce
  • Moments of Reprieve
  • Auschwitz Report
  • The Voice of Memory


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