Simon Caterson

Simon Caterson reviews ‘Lethal Factor’ by Gabrielle Lord

October 2003, no. 255 • 01 October 2003

This is a crime novel written largely in headlines. Lethal Factor is replete with references to such choice items as bio-terrorism, the conflict in the Balkans, paedophilia, Nazi war criminals, strange goings-on in the Catholic Church and academic plagiarism. Such manifold topicality is no guarantee of success in a thriller, and the particular merit of Lethal Factor lies not in its wide coverage o ... (read more)

Simon Caterson reviews ‘Weapons of Choice: World War 2.1’ by John Birmingham

October 2004, no. 265 • 01 October 2004

One of the most outlandish Hollywood action films, relatively speaking, is The Final Countdown (1980), in which the nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier U.S.S. Nimitz is enveloped in a bizarre electrical storm in the Pacific and transported back in time to 1941, conveniently just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. The ship’s commander is played by Kirk Douglas, with Martin Sheen in the ... (read more)

Simon Caterson reviews Four Crime Novels

November 2005, no. 276 • 01 November 2005

Relatively few Australians possess a criminal record, but virtually everyone in this country leads a vicarious life of crime. The greater part of our popular culture is pervaded by crime in inverse proportion to the rate of actual offending. Law and order is a sensitive political topic right now, yet at the same time never has the criminal world held such sway over the popular imagination. The bul ... (read more)

Simon Caterson reviews 'Chamfort: Reflections on Life, Love and Society' by Chamfort (edited and translated by Douglas Parmée)

April 2004, no. 260 • 01 April 2004

‘Anyone who’s not a misanthrope by the time he’s forty has never felt the slightest affection for the human race.’ It was apparently at this time of life that Nicolas-Sébastien Roch de Chamfort (1740–94) began jotting down his thoughts, reflections and anecdotes. As the above sample indicates, Chamfort’s life of excess and disappointment had equipped him with a heightened sensitivity ... (read more)

Simon Caterson reviews 'Something About Mary: From girl about town to crown princess' by Emma Tom, and 'Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark' by Karin Palshoj and Gitte Redder translated by Zanne Jappe Mallett

April 2006, no. 280 • 01 April 2006

One of the contestants on television’s Australian Princess last year was a stripper, the oscillation in whose carriage was queried by the judges. ‘Of course I wiggle when I walk,’ the young woman protested, ‘I’ve got booty.’ Another competitor found that the going got tough when she was called upon to make a cup of tea. ‘I’m more of a bourbon girl,’ she shrugged. We were meant to ... (read more)

Commentary | J.M. Coetzee by Simon Caterson

November 2003, no. 256 • 01 November 2003

One of the phrases used by the Swedish Academy to describe J.M. Coetzee, winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature, is ‘scrupulous doubter’. In his novels, memoirs, essays, lectures and academic criticism, Coetzee conveys the uncertainty and complexity of lived experience with extraordinary precision and, sometimes, with a clarity that is almost unbearable. Coetzee’s work is triumpha ... (read more)