Andrea Fazioli and Joshua Babic
Photo: AdS
Andrea Fazioli was born in 1978. He lives in Bellinzona. He completed his studies of Italian and French literature in Zurich with a master’s thesis on contemporary poetry. He published the short story collection ‘Il commissario e la badante’ (2020) and eight novels, including ‘Le strade oscure’ (2022) and ‘Gli Svizzeri muoiono felici’ (2018), with Guanda. He published the stories ‘Succede sempre qualcosa’ (2018) and ‘Le vacanze di Studer’ (2020), a work based on an unfinished novel by Friedrich Glauser, with Casagrande. Together with Yari Bernasconi, he published ‘A Zurigo, sulla luna’ (2021) with Capelli, ‘Chi muore si rivede’ (2005) with Dadò and ‘La beata analfabeta’ (2016) with Edizioni San Paolo. His books have been translated into several languages. He has worked for the theatre, cinema, radio and television. In 2017, he was awarded the Officer’s rank of the Order ‘Star of Italy’ by the President of the Italian Republic for his literary work.
Photo: Francesca Rodesino
Joshua Babic was born in Imperia (IT) in 1993. He lives in Lugano. He studied philosophy in Lugano and Geneva, receiving his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Geneva in 2023. One of his stories was honoured at the 15th edition of the ‘Castelli di Carta’ literary competition.
Project
Philosophy draws on thought, literature on the imaginary. There is only a fine line between the two disciplines, so it is often difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. What makes a story philosophical? At what point does philosophical reflection become, as Borges would say, ‘pensativo sentir’, a "thoughtful feeling"? Each of the stories in this project begins with a sketch, a diagram, a note, as if from a philosopher’s notebook. Each comment conveys an idea or a concept and then becomes a fantasy, a dream, a digression. Philosophers and philosophy become a literary object. All of this takes place in that grey area where reason and myth, logic and poetry merge; or, to quote Borges again, ‘algebra and fire’.
