My name is Massimo Fantini. I am an Italian author and free thinker, writing from my home in the hills outside Bologna. In quiet moments, when I am neither writing nor working, I enjoy classical music, particularly orchestral works and Italian opera.
I graduated from a university in Bologna with a degree in civil engineering. However, my youth studies do not represent my life’s passion—delving into the realities that unite all of humanity: suffering, frustrations, conflicts, and human reactions to them. These events take every human as an innocent in the crib and twist and turn them into 8.1 billion unique (but intimately connected) forms.
In short, I am obsessed with exploring the intimate recesses of the human condition.
In 2018, entirely dissatisfied with my job, I sought a new form of expression. Thus, I began to write.
Over time, I experimented with many kinds of writing, wondering how best to give my ideas form. Then, I found my voice through stories, giving life to characters who explore, triumph, and fail for us to watch.
In each installment of my Human Condition Trilogy, these same all-encompassing issues are approached from different directions, under different circumstances, and by different characters.
Echoing the sentiment of Heraclitus, no two people may look at the same problem the same way, because it is different to each. From the old and cynical Leonard in Concerning Fanaticism to young Tommaso (a character inspired by my youth) in Concerning Intellectual Suicide, I tried to shed light on a path that is a constant part of our lives but also constantly shifting.
Through my writing, I encourage readers to find their perspective on life. Rather than embracing the comfortable mold that society provides, like a goldfish “free” to swim around in its little bowl, I hope my readers can use my books as a stepping stone toward their unique thinking. And then, I wish them the freedom to pursue it.
Art is wonderful because it represents what we otherwise cannot express. I seek not to provide myself and my readers with a mere distraction (what so often passes for “entertainment”)—not a hole in which to stick our heads for a few hours, only to emerge weakened and even less able to face our reality. Rather, I offer up a representation of our shared condition—the human condition.
