Concerning Intellectual Suicide in The Human Race by Massimo Fantini

Tommaso is a despondent engineering student at the local university. He has a life which many people would feel satisfied with: he lives with parents who provide him with all the comforts he could wish for, fellow students and colleagues who are interested in him, and pursuits besides education. However, he feels a nagging sense of emptiness and a disconnection with the outside world. Therefore, he makes an appointment at the Institute, a colorless piece of bureaucracy in his town designed to “help” people like him. Tommaso meets with the functionaries, who ask him the bland, mechanical questions on their forms to evaluate if he is a suitable candidate for their “treatment”: assisted suicide. He increasingly finds himself unable to continue with the process, and comes into contact with Diego, a senior employee at the Institute, whose job is to carry out the treatment. One day, Tommaso goes on a trip with a girl, Francesca, to Mahler’s composition house. Tommaso has a passion for classical music, but his feelings of emptiness overwhelm him. He abandons Francesca and returns home to contemplate his fate. At the same time, Diego takes a special interest in Tommaso’s case. In doing so, Diego begins to realize that Tommaso’s feelings dovetail with his deepening disillusionment with his job. Faced with his inner turmoil concerning the ethics of the job he performs, Diego falls ill. His doctor advises him to visit Father Anselm – an old priest who lives in the mountains – where he spends three days resting and recuperating. During this trip, Diego debates ethics and religion with Father Anselm. The result of these debates leads to Diego deciding to rescind his position as Chief Executioner at the Institute. On returning to the Institute, Diego tries to steer Tommaso back toward hope. Tommaso, however, too absorbed in his own feelings, fails to see the light and returns to his pervasive sense of emptiness and disconnection from the world.

New Adult • Literary Fiction