Farewell to Robert
Two men, Robert and Vras, met in 1993 and formed a committed relationship until Robert’s death of leukemia in May, 2022. This short book is a farewell letter to Robert, a long lamentation and a threnody, exploring the nature of their friendship, their own transformation over time and finally the unexpected event of death. In the letter, Vras unfolds the expression of grief and loss after their pledge to ‘grow old together’ didn’t eventuate.
He recollects their shared experiences and encounters while presenting a relationship which brought together affection, intimacy, eros and friendship. Without idealisation or escapism, this confessional letter pays homage to the power of human emotions and the destiny formed by the will of lovers to be together, until death tore them apart and, perhaps, beyond death.
Vrasidas Karalis holds the Chair of Sir Nicholas Laurantos in Modern Greek and Byzantine Studies at the University of Sydney. He has translated Patrick White’s Voss and The Vivisector, as well as Michael Dransfield’s poems into Greek. His main publications in English include, A History of Greek Cinema (Continuum 2012), Realism in Greek Cinema (I.B. Tauris, 2017), The Cinematic Language of Theo Angelopoulos (Berhghan Press, 2021), Theo Angelopoulos: Film maker and Philosopher (Palgrave, 2023), Recollections of Mr Manoly Lascaris (Brandl & Schlesinger, 2007), The Demons of Athens (Brandl & Schlesinger, 2013), Reflections on Presence (re.Press, 2016) and The Glebe Point Road Blues (Brandl & Schlesinger, 2021). He has also edited volumes on Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt and Cornelius Castoriadis.
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