In After Romulus, Raimond Gaita revisits the world of his deeply loved memoir and his childhood in central Victoria.
He writes about Hora, who was an inspiration to him throughout his life, about the making of the acclaimed film starring Eric Bana, about ideas of truth, the limits of character, and the conflict between love and morality. And, most movingly, about his mother Christine and his longing for her.
Raimond Gaita was born in Germany in 1946. He is Emeritus Professor of moral philosophy at Kings College London and a Professorial fellow at the Melbourne Law School and the faculty of Arts of the University of Melbourne. His books include: Good and Evil: An Absolute Conception; Romulus, My Father; A Common Humanity; The Philosopher’s Dog; Essays on Muslims and Multiculturalism (as editor and contributor); and After Romulus. A feature film of Romulus, My Father was released in 2007, and won the AFI award for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Young Actor.
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'Gaita is a brave, decent and emotionally intelligent man...we need more like him.' Stephen Romei, Australian
'Somehow, what was true of Romulus, of the light his goodness cast upon the world a light that made it possible for his son Raimond to survive childhood without bitterness, to love without shame or condescension his sick mother who had abandoned him this light binds together and gleams out of the book as well. There are moments you can find them, captured in passing, in After Romulus when the light settles for a second and you can see it at work.' Maria Tumarkin, Weekend Australian
'In After Romulus Raimond Gaita invites us into the far reaches of his considerable mind and the deep places of his soul. This will be felt as a privilege by most readers, as it should. And it is, as it turns out, not just a sequel, but an extension of all that was good in his initial story. It is a book to stretch the mind and enlarge the heart.' Canberra Times
'It is impossible not to be moved by this achingly raw remembrance and grateful for the stunning candour of its author.' Sunday Age
'This extraordinary book set me reflecting upon my own residency in the world - my own decency, condescension, loves and truths.' Weekend Herald (NZ)
'This is the kind of writing that is so brave it makes you flinch, so profound it makes you examine yourself, and so moving it makes you see life afresh. I was entranced as usual by Rai Gaita's limpid style, and his signature combination of philosophical intellect and warm heart.' Anna Funder
'[The essay] "An Unassuageable Longing" explains Christine and makes her real: she is finally chronicled with love and rigour, as was Romulus...In a book full of extraordinary revelations, this chapter will stay long in the reader's memory.' Age
'Raimond Gaita's After Romulus is an eloquent meditation on love, friendship, philosophy and loss. Gaita's tragic loss of his mother at an early age reminds us of Emily Dickinson's "The craving is upon the child like a claw it cannot remove". The reader is compelled to admiration by this brave book.' Alex Miller, Sydney Morning Herald's best books of 2011
'There are times when the reader is right there beside Gaita, delighting in the stinging descriptions of his childhood at Frogmore and sympathising with the heartache that confronted him so early in life.' Sun Herald
