Ugliness in the lotus
The Bodysurfers. By Robert Drewe. Faber and Faber, 1984. 164 pp. Robert Drewe’s unsettling collection of short stories uncovers the canker in the hearts of contemporary Australian lotuseaters. His subjects range from urban cosmopolitans like David Lang, who we watch slide from easy open-mindedness into a queasy recognition that things are drifting between him and his wife, to the ugly rapist and scopophiliac who takes a packed lunch and binoculars to the nearest nude beach to “perv on” (and condemn) local narcissists. The sensuality of the Australian summer beach is counter-pointed by the private longings of his characters. Urban Australians are seen to be defiling their magnificent sea-coasts, but Drewe also suggests that they are defiling earlier puritan traditions in their quest for elusive freedoms. — Ruth Zanker.
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Press, 13 July 1985, Page 20
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131Ugliness in the lotus Press, 13 July 1985, Page 20
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