The audiobook of the work 'The Fundamental Things' by the Venetian writer Tiziano Scarpa

The Audiobook Narrator presents “The Fundamental Things” by the Venetian writer and playwright Tiziano Scarpa (winner of the Strega Prize in 2009 with “Stabat Mater”).

It is the story of Leonardo, a recent father, who finds himself disoriented by a small creature that has the strength of a thousand hurricanes. Powerless in the face of a future he cannot control, he seeks refuge in words, with the hope that one day his thoughts will be read by his son, and will be able to guide him on the journey of existence. Leonardo, however, has not taken into account the unpredictability of life.

The novel "The basics” by Tiziano Scarpa is published in audiobook version by the publishing house il Narratore, with the reading of the text entrusted to Massimo D'Onofrio. The author offers a story written with that stylistic originality to which he has already accustomed his reader, so much so that at 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 protagonist. Courageous choices but absolutely suitable for an intimate and introspective story, which tells of a man who is facing the most exciting but also 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 baby of a few weeks: Mario does not stop crying because he wants his mother, the only true link with life.

The father is still a faded, meaningless figure, but Leonardo wants to have an all-encompassing relationship with his son; so he decides to write him a long letter that he will give him when he is fourteen, where he sincerely recounts his personal experiences and his supposed truths about the world. He begins writing it in a notebook, then moves on to the computer, and the file will be given the name of "The fundamental things". Leonardo is moved by his fear of disappointing his son, and his letter almost seems like an early apology for the mistakes he will inevitably make as a parent; his friend Tiziano, however, has another interpretation of his choice: "It's just a way to fool yourself into thinking you've 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 isn't as important as the benefit Leonardo gets from his relationship with his son: it's as if he were able to live the present moment, the here and now, for the first time; he even goes as far as mimicking Mario's behaviors 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 about that. If anything, I'd like to be able to be poetic as an adult, including lucidity, while also keeping my conscience, even my words, everything. I'd like to be taught by you how to live in the world. I want to be infected by you."

Tiziano Scarpa immerses us in this simple and delicate story but then, as the skilled narrator he is, he distorts the tone of the work; violently throws us into a story of helplessness and despair where even words, to which a vital task had been delegated, mock the protagonist and where we must learn that life cannot always go straight: there are dangerous curves, and c 'is also the possibility of running off the road.

SYNOPSIS. Leonardo became a father a few days ago. Mario's birth has overturned his way of seeing and feeling things, as if a locomotive had broken through the walls of the house. He observes him carefully, for the intruder that he is: a small alien who has fallen on earth, a concentration of potential and unreflected life. He is fascinated by his eyes wide open on the world, by his corporeal being, at once unattainable and totally permeable. He thinks about when Mario will be inhabited by words, when thoughts will take him far away. He would like to accompany him, or wait for him down there, nourishing him in turn with the "black milk" of writing. He decides to write in a notebook what he feels for him and what he has learned from life: he tells him his love stories and his disillusionments, his relationships with his family, the most obvious experiences and those that are not liked to be spoken about. But this castle of words is destined to collapse very soon, in the face 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 2009 Strega Prize. Among other publications: “Occhi sulla graticola” (Einaudi, 1966); “Kamikaze d'Occidente” (Rizzoli, 2003); “Le cose fondamentale” (Einaudi, 2010); “Il brevetto del geco” (Einaudi, 2016); “Il frownedio del gufo” (Einaudi, 2018) and “La penultima magia” (Einaudi, 2020). His books have been translated into numerous languages. He collaborates with the online magazine “Il primo amore” (also published on paper by Edizioni Effigie), of which he is one of the founders, after having been the founder of the collective blog “Nazione Indiana”. He is an intense performer of his own and other people's works, both in the theatre and elsewhere; he is also a radio author.

THE PUBLISHING HOUSE. The speaker audiobooks is a project born to promote the narration and listening of stories belonging to all the literary, philosophical and religious traditions of the world. Since 2008, the Narrator has offered a distribution service of audiobooks 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 with the offer of numerous titles of any literary genre and in all languages, and offers Audiobook production services to publishers and authors. Every year, the Narrator is committed to donating part of its production published both on CD and digitally to schools, libraries, prisons and recreational clubs.