Review of David Foster: The Satirist of Australia, by Susan Lever

Abstract

The Australian literary landscape is shaded by the colossal figure of Patrick White, a figure summoned in Andrew Riemer's lucid foreword to Susan Lever's landmark study of satirical novelist David Foster. As Riemer suggests, White is the figure Australian writers must acknowledge and from whose shadow they must escape. Although he has not received the international recognition enjoyed by White, Lever convincingly argues that David Foster stands foremost among Australian novelists as White's successor, directing a series of unflinching satires against the 'bleakness, corruption, and decadence in the rituals of domestic, cultural and political Australian life' (Riemer x).