Let us stop to examine this particular issue, which is even more interesting because this makes us recall the very same fate of the original If This is a Man when it was being published in Italy. Here in Italy, this book had a very limited following in 1947. In fact, the book had to wait until the second edition, published by Einaudi in 1958, before it was to have an effective and long-time public success.
Fermiamoci un momento su questo particolare problema, tanto più interessante perché richiama da vicino la sorte toccata a Se questo un uomo anche in Italia; dove il libro, destinato a una diffusione molto limitata nel ’47, fu infatti costretto, per ottenere un effettivo e duraturo successo di pubblico, ad attendere la seconda edizione Einaudi del ’58.