Romulus, My Father
Romulus, My Father

Author: Raimond Gaita

Publisher: Text Publishing

Published: 1999-09-01

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 1921921161

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Winner of the 1998 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Non-Fiction, Romulus, My Father is an iconic and deeply loved book. Romulus Gaita fled his home in his native Yugoslavia at the age of thirteen, and came to Australia with his young wife Christina and their infant son Raimond soon after the end of World War II. Tragic events were to overtake the boy's life, but Raimond Gaita has an extraordinary story to tell about growing up with his father amid the stony paddocks and flowing grasses of country Australia. Written simply and movingly, Romulus, My Father is about how a compassionate and honest man taught his son the meaning of living a decent life. It is about passion, betrayal and madness, about friendship and the joy and dignity of work, about character and fate, affliction and spirituality. No one will read this wonderful book without an enhanced sense of the possibilities of being alive. 'I know of no other book where the love between father and son has been more beautifully expressed.' Robert Manne

After Romulus
After Romulus

Author: Raimond Gaita

Publisher: Text Publishing

Published: 2011-08-29

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1921758783

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'People have often asked me how I survived my childhood reasonably sane. They think it was because my father and Hora loved me deeply and that I never doubted it. But as much as, perhaps more than that, it was the fact that I came to see the world in the light that my father’s goodness cast upon it.' Raimond Gaita In 1998, Raimond Gaita’s Romulus, My Father was first published—the story of his father who came to Australia from Europe with his young wife Christine and their four-year-old son after the end of the Second World War. In the isolated landscape of country Victoria, Christine succumbed to mental illness, and a series of tragedies befell the family. Described as ‘a profound meditation on love and death, madness and truth, judgment and compassion’, Romulus, My Father became an instant classic. Now, thirteen years later, and four years after the release of the film, Raimond Gaita has put together this collection in which he reflects on the writing of the book, the making of the film, his relationship to the desolate beauty of the central Victorian landscape, the philosophies that underpinned his father’s relationship to the world and, most movingly, the presence and absence of his mother and his unassuaged longing for her.

The Philosopher's Dog
The Philosopher's Dog

Author: Raimond Gaita

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-10-04

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 1315474751

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In this beautifully written book Raimond Gaita tells inspirational, poignant, sometimes funny but never sentimental stories of the dogs, cats and cockatoos that lived and died within his own family. He asks fascinating questions about animals: Is it wrong to attribute the concepts of love, devotion, loyalty, grief or friendship to them? Why do we care so much for some creatures but not for others? Why are we so concerned with proving that animals have minds? Reflecting on these questions, and drawing on the ideas of Descartes, Wittgenstein and J.M. Coetzee, Gaita pleads that we ask ourselves what it means to be creatures of ‘flesh and blood.’ He discusses mortality and sexuality, the relations between storytelling, philosophy and science and the spiritual love of mountains. An arresting and profound book, The Philosopher’s Dog is a triumph of both storytelling and philosophy. This Routledge Classics edition includes a substantial new introduction and afterword by the author.

Between Sky and Sea
Between Sky and Sea

Author: Herz Bergner

Publisher: Text Publishing

Published: 2010-06-07

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 1921799099

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A group of Jewish refugees are thrown together on board a dilapidated freighter charting a course for Australia. Fleeing terrible scenes of destruction in Europe, they are bound by a deep sense of loss and the uncertainty of their fate. As the ship lists, inner conflicts burst to the surface and romance, revenge, guilt and desperation fill the craft. There's poignancy, drama and an abiding strength of humanity as the passengers' lives play out in this unbearable hinterland between sky and sea. Now, more than sixty years since its publication in 1946, Between Sky & Sea has been resurrected to take its place among Australia's major works of diaspora fiction. Arnold Zable’s introduction highlights the chilling parallels between Bergner’s tale and the sinking of the SIEV X off the Australian coast, giving the reader pause to reflect on the unchanging plight of asylum seekers throughout history and across the globe. Herz Bergner was born in Poland in 1907 and migrated to Australia with his wife in 1938. His first book, The New House, published in 1941, was a collection of short stories about immigrants adapting to life in a new land. Herz Bergner died in 1970. ‘This novel, resurrected from its foreign country of the past, might stand as an epitaph for the 353 men, women and children drowned in 2001 when the SIEV X sank while trying to reach Australia. At the very least, Between Sky & Sea should be required reading for refugee policymakers today.’ Canberra Times ‘Beautifully written with extraordinary insight into the frailties of humanity, Bergner’s tale is as much a version of the past as it is a vision of our present...We can only hope that publishers such as Text continue to salvage the treasury of migrant literature that is no longer in print.’ Australian ‘Bergner’s astute observation of life shows in his sharp psychological dissection of this human cargo and his unflinching assessment of people’s flaws...Bergner writes with such compassion that a reader becomes infected by his characters’ yearnings.’ Herald Sun ‘There’s poignancy, drama and an abiding strength of humanity in this story.’ Australian Jewish News

A Common Humanity
A Common Humanity

Author: Raimond Gaita

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-01-11

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1135199175

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This profound and arresting book draws on a wealth of examples to paint a provocative new picture of our common humanity.

Essays on Muslims & Multiculturalism
Essays on Muslims & Multiculturalism

Author: Raimond Gaita

Publisher: Text Publishing

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 1921656603

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September 11 2001 marked a change inAustralian attitudes towards immigrants. The spotlight was on Muslims. This collection of thought-provoking essays looks at multiculturalism's successes and failures in providing a secure, well-integrated, free and fair Australia. Philosopher and writer Raimond Gaita has gathered some of Australia's leading writers in the field to examine an issue that goes to the heart of Australia's identity. Author and lawyer Waleed Aly examines the role that the media has played in anti-Islamic myth-making in popular Western culture. Writer and researcher Shakira Hussein looks at how Australia's immigration policy has changed the cultural landscape. Geoffrey Brahm Levey writes on multiculturalism and terror and Raimond Gaita on 'the war on terror'.

Oh Lucky Country
Oh Lucky Country

Author: Rosa Cappiello

Publisher: Sydney University Press

Published: 2010-04

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 1920898972

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Oh Lucky Country (Paese fortunato) uses first-person point of view to inflate migrant oppression to such absurdist proportions that its swirling narrative boils over into a maelstrom, washing away all migrant clichés. It is a witty, tragi-comic view of Australian society, culture and prejudice. This new edition of Oh Lucky Country, with introductions by Nicole Moore and Gaetano Rando, is a part of the Australian Classics Library series intended to make classic texts of Australian literature more widely available for the secondary school and undergraduate university classroom, and to the general reader. The series is co-edited by Emeritus Professor Bruce Bennett of the University of New South Wales and Professor Robert Dixon, Professor of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney, in conjunction with SETIS, Sydney University Press, AustLit and the Copyright Agency Limited. Each text is accompanied by a fresh scholarly introduction and a basic editorial apparatus drawn from the resources of AustLit. Rosa Cappiello was born in Naples, Italy, in 1942. She migrated to Australia in 1971 with no knowledge of English and no skills and worked in various manual occupations. She published her first novel, I semi negri (The Black Seeds) in 1977 in Italy. In 1982, she was writer-in-residence at the University of Wollongong. She died in 2008 in Italy.

Romulus
Romulus

Author: Marc Hyden

Publisher: Pen and Sword History

Published: 2020-09-30

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 1526783185

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A riveting biography of the legendary founder and first king of Rome. According to legend, Romulus was born to a Vestal Virgin and left for dead as an infant near the Tiber River. His life nearly ended as quickly as it began, but fate had other plans. A humble shepherd rescued the child and helped raise him into manhood. As Romulus grew older, he fearlessly engaged in a series of perilous adventures that ultimately culminated in Rome’s founding, and he became its fabled first king. Establishing a new city had its price, and Romulus was forced to defend the nascent community. As he tirelessly safeguarded Rome, Romulus proved that he was a competent leader and talented general. Yet, he also harbored a dark side, which reared its head in many ways and tainted his legacy, but despite all of his misdeeds, redemption and subsequent triumphs were usually within his grasp. Indeed, he is an example of how greatness is sometimes born of disgrace. Regardless of his foreboding flaws, Rome allegedly existed because of him and became massively successful. As the centuries passed, the Romans never forgot their celebrated founder. This is the story that many ancient Romans believed. Praise for Romulus “Hyden leans into a tone reminiscent of a bard regaling those around a campfire with stories of a hero’s great exploits . . . [He tells] a fascinating origin story.” —Booklist “As inherently fascinating a read as it is an impressive work of meticulous scholarship . . . a truly extraordinary, expressly informative, and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Roman History & Culture collections and supplemental curriculum studies reading lists.” —Midwest Book Review

The Last Thread
The Last Thread

Author: Michael Sala

Publisher: Text Publishing

Published: 2017-02-27

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1925410757

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Michaelis is four when they first move to Australia, leaving behind the cold and the snow and the mud, the flat grey landscape, his father, his mother’s family, and everything he has ever known. He is seven when they pack up again and go home, nine when they return to Australia. When you are used to it, leaving is the easiest thing in the world—and where the sea is warm and the days linger, it is easier to forget. But his stepfather is a bully, and the absence of his real father masks a painful truth. Before long, Michaelis learns that no matter how far you go, your past always follows you, trailing questions in its wake. Beginning with memory’s first fragments, The Last Thread traces a boy’s journey into adulthood against a backdrop of family secrets, betrayals and unhealed wounds. Michael Sala was born in the Netherlands in 1975 to a Greek father and a Dutch mother, and first came to Australia in the 1980s. He lives in Newcastle. His critically acclaimed debut, The Last Thread, won the 2013 NSW Premier's Award for New Writing and was the regional winner (Pacific) of the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize. ‘Michael Sala has a rare gift: in prose that takes your breath away, he tells a story of heart-rending sorrow without a trace of sentimentality.’ Raimond Gaita ‘A confronting and compelling story of a family. Sala captures perfectly the puzzled silence of the uncomprehending child in a narrative swollen with unspoken secrets.’ Debra Adelaide ‘A gutsy, moving, beautifully wrought and utterly compelling work.’ Readings Monthly ‘There is so much to praise about this book. Michael Sala’s prose is clear and unadorned, the setting exquisitely rendered, but it is his characters—all of them flawed and complex and deeply, deeply human—who will stay with me for a very long time. I would defy anyone to read this story and remain unmoved. The Restorer is an incredibly powerful novel and, I believe, an important one.’ Hannah Kent on The Restorer