1985

Mid-February, spends a week on Sanibel Island with Sigrid.

April 26, visits his friend Willem de Kooning in East Hampton. He sees the 81-year-old painter, in failing mental health, as “a sad one, because he no longer seems to be present (constant smile and whispery voice—he appears to be deaf, but he’s not). He was surrounded by 3-4 widows bickering about the future.”

August, begins correspondence and telephone conversations with Primo Levi. They exchange copies of their wartime Italian university diplomas, both of which are inscribed “di razza ebraica”—“of the Hebrew race.”

Primo Levi’s diploma in chemistry from the University of Turin, June 6, 1941. Inscribed to “Levi, Primo, di razza ebraica.” Levi Family Collection/Centro Internazionale di Studi Primo Levi, Turin
Primo Levi’s diploma in chemistry from the University of Turin, June 6, 1941. Inscribed to “Levi, Primo, di razza ebraica.” Levi Family Collection/Centro Internazionale di Studi Primo Levi, Turin
Steinberg’s diploma from the Politecnico in Milan, April 16, 1940. Inscribed to “Saul Steinberg…di razza ebraica.” Saul Steinberg Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Steinberg’s diploma from the Politecnico in Milan, April 16, 1940. Inscribed to “Saul Steinberg…di razza ebraica.” Saul Steinberg Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

September 19, Italo Calvino dies.

October, his maternal Aunt Sali, the last relative of his parents’ generation, dies in Israel at ninety-one.

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