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Description
By 're-entering the past in an imaginative way' David Malouf 's book Johnno has taken us into the world of his own childhood and early adulthood, but he has also taken us on a journey way beyond this world. Johnno's and the narrator's (Dante's) lives could be those of many Australians; the book forces us to consider what it is to be an Australian β and a Queenslander at that β and also what it is to be an Australian living abroad.
Johnno evokes the Brisbane that existed during the Second World War. Not yet a city, the war brought the town to life, as its geographical proximity to the Pacific arena of the war assured its prominence: 'Our sleepy sub-tropical town, with its feathery palm trees and its miles of sprawling weatherboard, was on the news-reels'.
Malouf delights in describing his hometown: the shady verandahs where daytime visitors were entertained, the nearby river with its mudflats and mangrove swamps, summer storms on tin roofs β and always the heat, references to the sticky, humid Brisbane heat abound throughout the novel as he describes a town where, even at night, 'the pavements gave off a heat that rose right up through your shoes' . It is a palpable heat we can feel.
But as the city grows up, develops and changes, so too do the chief protagonists. Johnno is the story of two mates who grow up in steamy wartime Brisbane going to school and university together, progressing from childhood pranks to the pubs and brothels of the 1950s, and eventually travelling overseas. For both it is important to gain wisdom through life rather than study, and this means making the great Australian pilgrimage overseas. Johnno, who unlike the narrator has always despised his hometown his life is a 'denunciation of the city', leaves first. He encourages Dante to also leave, to 'give up shadow boxing in the suburbs of limbo and follow him before it was too late'. Although Dante's feelings towards his hometown have always been warm ones, he too felt the need to go elsewhere: 'I had always known [London] was my destination'.
The relationship between the narrator Dante and Johnno is the main focus of the novel, yet it is a sporadic and unlikely relationship. At the start of the novel it is Dante who seeks acceptance by Johnno, and yet it is Johnno who seeks to maintain contact later in life. Dante didn't even bother to respond to Johnno's letters: 'There was always someone else I cared for more'. Their personalities are quite different; Dante is often embarrassed by Johnno.
Dante is the writer and yet it is Johnno who is unable to distinguish between fact and fiction. Even as a child he pretended to be someone he wasn't β a no-hoper when he was really quite bright. In France he pretends to be a Scot, and he never gives Dante his correct address ('Johnno had always liked mysteries'). Johnno lived for the thrill of the pretence and yet it is Johnno who tells Dante that Dante has 'a terror of real experience that [he] would obviously never outgrow'. But when Dante plays along with Johnno's fantasies, Johnno's enthusiasm cools. Did Johnno really set fire to churches? Did he really steal cars from the German autobahn?
Johnno's life was a 'gesture of defiance' β a railing against the world while he attempts to find his place in it. His drinking problem is a sign of his inability to cope with the real world, a desire that there be much more to life than there really is. There is nothing straightforward about this character and this is much more than a story of two mates growing up together. Even Johnnos death is ambiguous β did he drown or was it suicide?
Something...expected to produce failed to eventuate' sums relationship between Johnno and Dante, although it is the unifying thread running through the novel and appears strong enough to maintain the connection albeit at times distant over the years.
The narrator, while reporting with fondness on the events of his and Johnno's lives, appears curiously detached from people family and friends and the events he is describing. Despite admitting that he has always known London was where he wanted to be, he follows this up with: 'It wasn't something I had chosen. I was here, that's all. I had never left anywhere...'. Dante is a follower rather than an instigator of action and appears to live vicariously through Johnno's exploits. Does he have the 'terror of real experience'. Johnno credits him with? Like Johnno, the narrator also hides the truth. At thirteen he appeared 'a neat, darkly serious, well-brought up little figure', yet 'I wasn't true of course. I had too many secrets'.
As if to prove the cyclical nature of life, the book physically ends where it had begun. The narrator's father has died and he is sorting through his father's things. He comes across a photo showing Johnno in the lifesaving team and wearing glasses β both of which are lies. Johnno was never in the team and he did not wear glasses. It was 'a joke with a time fuse'. The story of Johnno takes up the bulk of the book, for Dante '...had been writing my book about Johnno from the moment we met'. But in the end, 'It's all lies, Johnno would say. And in the end, perhaps, it is. Johnno's false disguise is the one image of him that has lasted'
Johnno evokes the Brisbane that existed during the Second World War. Not yet a city, the war brought the town to life, as its geographical proximity to the Pacific arena of the war assured its prominence: 'Our sleepy sub-tropical town, with its feathery palm trees and its miles of sprawling weatherboard, was on the news-reels'.
Malouf delights in describing his hometown: the shady verandahs where daytime visitors were entertained, the nearby river with its mudflats and mangrove swamps, summer storms on tin roofs β and always the heat, references to the sticky, humid Brisbane heat abound throughout the novel as he describes a town where, even at night, 'the pavements gave off a heat that rose right up through your shoes' . It is a palpable heat we can feel.
But as the city grows up, develops and changes, so too do the chief protagonists. Johnno is the story of two mates who grow up in steamy wartime Brisbane going to school and university together, progressing from childhood pranks to the pubs and brothels of the 1950s, and eventually travelling overseas. For both it is important to gain wisdom through life rather than study, and this means making the great Australian pilgrimage overseas. Johnno, who unlike the narrator has always despised his hometown his life is a 'denunciation of the city', leaves first. He encourages Dante to also leave, to 'give up shadow boxing in the suburbs of limbo and follow him before it was too late'. Although Dante's feelings towards his hometown have always been warm ones, he too felt the need to go elsewhere: 'I had always known [London] was my destination'.
The relationship between the narrator Dante and Johnno is the main focus of the novel, yet it is a sporadic and unlikely relationship. At the start of the novel it is Dante who seeks acceptance by Johnno, and yet it is Johnno who seeks to maintain contact later in life. Dante didn't even bother to respond to Johnno's letters: 'There was always someone else I cared for more'. Their personalities are quite different; Dante is often embarrassed by Johnno.
Dante is the writer and yet it is Johnno who is unable to distinguish between fact and fiction. Even as a child he pretended to be someone he wasn't β a no-hoper when he was really quite bright. In France he pretends to be a Scot, and he never gives Dante his correct address ('Johnno had always liked mysteries'). Johnno lived for the thrill of the pretence and yet it is Johnno who tells Dante that Dante has 'a terror of real experience that [he] would obviously never outgrow'. But when Dante plays along with Johnno's fantasies, Johnno's enthusiasm cools. Did Johnno really set fire to churches? Did he really steal cars from the German autobahn?
Johnno's life was a 'gesture of defiance' β a railing against the world while he attempts to find his place in it. His drinking problem is a sign of his inability to cope with the real world, a desire that there be much more to life than there really is. There is nothing straightforward about this character and this is much more than a story of two mates growing up together. Even Johnnos death is ambiguous β did he drown or was it suicide?
Something...expected to produce failed to eventuate' sums relationship between Johnno and Dante, although it is the unifying thread running through the novel and appears strong enough to maintain the connection albeit at times distant over the years.
The narrator, while reporting with fondness on the events of his and Johnno's lives, appears curiously detached from people family and friends and the events he is describing. Despite admitting that he has always known London was where he wanted to be, he follows this up with: 'It wasn't something I had chosen. I was here, that's all. I had never left anywhere...'. Dante is a follower rather than an instigator of action and appears to live vicariously through Johnno's exploits. Does he have the 'terror of real experience'. Johnno credits him with? Like Johnno, the narrator also hides the truth. At thirteen he appeared 'a neat, darkly serious, well-brought up little figure', yet 'I wasn't true of course. I had too many secrets'.
As if to prove the cyclical nature of life, the book physically ends where it had begun. The narrator's father has died and he is sorting through his father's things. He comes across a photo showing Johnno in the lifesaving team and wearing glasses β both of which are lies. Johnno was never in the team and he did not wear glasses. It was 'a joke with a time fuse'. The story of Johnno takes up the bulk of the book, for Dante '...had been writing my book about Johnno from the moment we met'. But in the end, 'It's all lies, Johnno would say. And in the end, perhaps, it is. Johnno's false disguise is the one image of him that has lasted'
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