The River Ophelia

The River Ophelia is an Australian novel by Justine Ettler first published by Picador in 1995. The story moves between first-person narrative to an unnamed observer. It was highly controversial in Australia upon its publication, with some prominent critics dismissing it as pornographic.^[1]

Since its initial publication, critics and scholars have read deeper meaning into the novel's plot and style, with some determining it as post-modernism. The book was shortlisted for the 1995 Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction - Horror Division - Best Novel.^[2]

Plot synopsis

The novel is set in Sydney, though the name is never mentioned.

The novel concerns the pursuits of the protagonist Justine, a university student in inner-city Sydney, and her relationship with the destructive Sade, a journalist for a rock magazine. Sade regularly uses Justine for his own sexual exploits, and as she recognises this, goes on her own destructive pursuit for sexual fulfilment. Other characters, such as Hamlet, Ophelia, Simone and Marcelle appear later in the story. They regularly consume hard drugs, and are absorbed in a heavy capitalist culture with fluid, occasionally sexually violent relationships. The only character who ostensibly seems to pursue love, or a healthy relationship, is Justine. Sade regularly taunts Justine, and sometimes parades his other women around in front of her. Justine despairs and delves into hard drug use before eventually seeking a more permanent solution to her woes.

Themes

The novel makes overt references to Brett Easton Ellis's American Psycho (1991), a work of similar tone and parody about consumerist culture and the empty sex lives of yuppies in Manhattan, much as The River Ophelia is about wealthy Sydneysiders with empty, drug-addled lives.^[3] Some scholars have called The River Ophelia a feminist text.^[4]

Critical reception

The River Ophelia received a divisive response from Australian critics.^[5] It was reviewed in various prominent Australian newspapers, such as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian. Some praised it for its sardonic and satirical approach to the lives of privileged young white university students and yuppies in Sydney's upper-class suburbs, while others dismissed it as being too obscene, violent and sexually explicit.^[4] Critic Don Anderson called the novel a "marriage between Helen Garner and the Marquis de Sade".^[5]

References