Everybody has experienced literature, perhaps without even realising. Literature is not simply well-written texts by well-known authors, it is something deeper, directly connected with the human condition on this planet. This is the key point of novelist Domenico Starnone’s speech in front of a packed audience gathered in the beautiful garden of Mantua's Saint Sebastiano Palace. The author stood for the whole duration of the event, not only as an act of insubordination to social norms but also a personal practice to better remember the key points of his talk. His original approach quickly grabbed the attention of everybody in the crowd, as he presented difficult topics with a light and joyful attitude.

The revolutionary intuition presented by Starnone in his latest book L’umanità è un tirocinio consists of considering every instant of human life as part of the general idea of literature. Writing is simply the product of living, of remembering lived experiences and the words used orally to describe them. There is no writing without living. And living without writing would not allow humanity to develop and improve. Writing is the most basic necessary tool, used for every human activity, thought and experience. Nothing could have been done without writing, from the most beautiful things to the most horrible crimes in history. The alphabet and writing are simple tools that allow humans to become the most ferocious beasts but also the most beautiful cherubs, in an never ending learning process.

Starnone’s words can’t be clearer: humans need writing to live, to try improve themselves, even to experience the fear of creating monsters. People live in a tremendously ferocious world, full of violence and pain: inventing a better version of our everyday life through literature often seems the only logical solution for survival.