The novel "The basics"of Tiziano Scarpa is published in version audiobook from the publishing house the speaker, with the reading of the text entrusted to Massimo D'Onofrio. The author proposes a story written with that stylistic originality to which his reader has already become accustomed, so much so that in certain moments the words take on a life of their own and the point of view can suddenly change from the first to the third person, based on the feelings of the hero. Courageous choices but absolutely suitable for an intimate and introspective story, which tells of a man who is facing the most exciting but also the most 'terrifying' adventure of existence: that of being parents.
The protagonist of the novel is Leonardo, who we find disoriented in front of Mario, his few weeks old baby: Mario doesn't stop crying because he wants his mother, the only true link with life. The father is still a faded figure, meaningless, but Leonardo wants to have an all-encompassing relationship with his son; he therefore decides to write him a long letter that he will give him when he is fourteen years old, where he sincerely tells his personal experiences and his supposed truths about the world. He begins to write it in a notebook, then switches to the PC, and the file will be given the name of "Fundamental things".
Leonardo is moved by his fear of disappointing his son, and his letter almost seems like an apology in advance for the mistakes he will inevitably make as a parent; his friend Tiziano, on the other hand, has another interpretation of his choice: «It's just a way of deluding yourself that you have experienced things that are worth telling. You're making your son pay for your disappointment in your life." In the end, the reason for the letter is not as important as the benefit Leonardo derives from the relationship with his son: it is as if he were able to live in the present moment, the here and now, for the first time; he even goes so far as to mimic Mario's behavior to learn how to live in the world in absolute distraction – «I don't want to recover the poetry of my lost childhood, I don't care at all. If anything, I would like to be able to be poetic as an adult, lucidity included, while also keeping my conscience, even my words, everything. I'd like you to teach me how to live in the world. I want to get infected by you».
Tiziano Scarpa immerses us in this simple and delicate story but then, as a skilled narrator that he is, he distorts the tone of the work; throws us violently into one story of helplessness and despair where even the words, to which a vital task was delegated, mock the protagonist and where one must learn that life cannot always go straight: there are dangerous curves, and there is also the possibility of ending up off the road.
SYNOPSIS
Leonardo became a father a few days ago. The birth of Mario has overturned his way of seeing and feeling things, as if a locomotive had broken through the walls of the house. He observes it carefully, for that intruder that he is: a small alien who has rained down on the earth, a concentrate of potential and unreflected life. He is fascinated by his eyes wide open on the world, by his bodily being, both unattainable and totally permeable. He thinks about when Mario will be inhabited by words, when thoughts will take him away. He would like to accompany him, or wait for him down there, in turn feeding him with the "black milk" of writing. She decides to write in a notebook what she feels for him and what she has learned from life: she tells him her love stories and her disillusionments, her relationships with her family, the most obvious experiences and those she doesn't talk about willingly. . But this castle of words is destined to collapse soon, in front of the most unexpected and unspeakable truth.
BIOGRAPHY
Tiziano Scarpa (Venice, 1963) is a novelist, playwright, essayist and poet. With his novel “Stabat Mater” (Einaudi, 2008) he won the Strega Prize 2009. Among other publications: “Occhi sulla graticola” (Einaudi, 1966); "Kamikaze of the West" (Rizzoli, 2003); "The fundamental things" (Einaudi, 2010); "The patent of the gecko" (Einaudi, 2016); "The frown of the owl" (Einaudi, 2018) and "The penultimate magic" (Einaudi, 2020). His books have been translated into numerous languages. He collaborates with the online magazine "Il primo amore" (also published on paper by Effigie editions), of which he is one of the founders, after having been the founder of the collective blog "Nazione Indiana". He carries out an intense activity of stage reader of his works and those of others, at the theater and beyond; he is also an author for radio.
THE PUBLISHING HOUSE
The Narrator audiobooks is a project born to promote storytelling and listening of stories belonging to all the literary, philosophical and religious traditions of the world. Since 2008 the Narrator offers a service of distribution of audio books also from other publishing houses and independent producers, in addition to the audio works produced by the publishing house; since May 2019 the Narrator has signed a partnership with StreetLib, the first global platform for multi-format and multi-channel editorial distribution, thanks to which it expands its catalog by offering numerous titles of any literary genre and in all languages, and offers Audiobook production services to publishers and authors. Every year the Narrator undertakes to donate part of his production published both in CD and digitally to schools, libraries, prisons and recreational clubs.
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