We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from Part II - Memorialising Self-Denial
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2013
I say all this as his son, and because I say it at his funeral, I am conscious of the fact that many of you will believe that what I have said is, in the circumstances, an understandable and forgivable exaggeration. As God is my witness, I speak it as the truth about this singular man.
—Raimond Gaita, ‘Romulus Gaita: Turnings of Attention’It is only with Renunciation (Entsagen) that Life, properly speaking, can be said to begin.
—Thomas Carlyle, Sartor ResartusPolus. So you'd prefer to suffer injustice rather than do it?
Socrates. For myself I should prefer neither; but if it were necessary for me either to do or to suffer injustice, I should choose to suffer rather than do it.
—Plato, Plato's GorgiasRaimond Gaita and Richard Freadman have been quite explicit about the reasons for writing patriographies. In the acknowledgements of Romulus, My Father, Gaita discloses how it originated from the eulogy he gave at his father's funeral, which was subsequently published in the journal Quadrant. The book's closing pages briefly recount the act of giving this eulogy, a task he performed because ‘There was no one else who could do it’ (207). Gaita quotes from the conclusion of his funeral speech, summing up what has been a major task of his work: to define his father's distinctive and admirable form of decency. Gaita writes, ‘He was truly a man who would rather suffer evil than do it’ (208).
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
