Concerning Fanaticism in The Human Race by Massimo Fantini

Elijah is a promising young lawyer, in love with his work and confident in the potential of the human race. His law firm’s senior partner gives him his first important assignment. Elijah will have to follow the case of Leonard, an elderly engineer who lives in Montepastore, a small village in Italy’s Bolognese Apennines. Leonard's question concerns the supplementary contribution that engineers enrolled in the professional register are required to pay to Inarcassa, the Engineers’ Pension Fund. At first, the case seems simple. It was the subject of a previous ruling by the Court of Cassation. But Leonard is not satisfied with an institutional response. He wants to know why. He wants to know what hides behind the Supreme Court’s ruling. Through a detailed analysis of the Court of Cassation’s ruling, Elijah and Leonard formulate a hypothesis, according to which the Supreme Court may have been subjected to pressure from advocacy groups aimed at preserving the established order. The Court of Cassation’s ruling, which at first glance seemed like a valid institutional response, ends up bringing out intrinsic contradictions and absurdities which begin to undermine Elijah's trust in Italian institutions. But Elijah can't afford to fail on his first important assignment. He aspires to an accelerated career. He aspires to become the youngest partner in the law firm. Therefore, he is obliged to indulge Leonard's mind-bending lucubrations even when these seem designed to destroy Elijah's trust in justice and jurisprudence. To support his anarchist and non-conformist ideas, the old engineer makes use of examples taken from the real story of his grandfather Alexis, who lived in the second half of the nineteenth century. The concrete evidence brought by Leonard – and Elijah's inability to respond effectively – brings out the prejudices and conditioning to which the young man is a slave. Leonard's demands grow meeting after meeting, and the subject of the dispute widens to include ethical, religious, and historical concerns. Elijah turns to alcohol and becomes stubborn and violent. He insults his friends, abandons his girlfriend, Paola, and moves to Leonard's house with the intention of demolishing his ideas. It's psychological warfare on all fronts. Exhausted and determined to put an end to that agony, Elijah decides to set fire to the old man's house. He gets some cans of petrol, but, at the last minute, changes his mind. Epilogue: A few years later, Elijah finds himself in a notary's office together with the law firm’s senior partner. He has finally achieved his goal: to become the youngest partner in the law firm.

Young Adult • Literary Fiction