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a lofty calmness and lets the others wait a moment, focusing their attention during this
dramatic pause. He clears his throat, then, like the Walrus, who let himself become enthralled
by the little oysters before devouring them, and deliberately so that his ‘well-oiled voice
would taste each item’, he commences his delivery, ‘his rose-bud mouth working solemnly,
like an old lady’s at prayer’ (YLD, 12). Big, soft, witty, intelligent, romantic, sensitive,
majestic, loving, and as loveable as a teddy bear—except that here it is a walrus—‘Great
Wally’ is a character right out of Wonderland.
All this almost makes Wally into a tragic character, for the complications of his large
personality make for a big and sudden fall, except that Koch does not choose to write the
tragedy of Wally O’Sullivan. In spite of his professed love for Indonesia, Wally has already
confessed to Cookie the problems of his pederasty in Indonesia:
‘I’m living on the edge of a volcano. The Indos would love to get something
on me—I irritate them so often with my articles. It’s all so bloody cloak-anddagger
here. I wish I were based in Singapore again. Singers was marvellous.
I could send out from my room for the most beautiful boys—they deliver them
there like hamburgers.’ (YLD, 60)
Or like oysters. In any case, Wally, like the Walrus, does not recognise his own decadence
because the boys he has sex with do not seem quite human to him. Koch clothes his blatant
racism in the heavy robes of higher, perhaps for some readers even redeeming, romantic
French literature—citing one of the most important figures in 19 th century Orientalist
expression.
I’ve got used to having boys in South-East Asia, Cookie. The funny thing is, I
never allowed myself at home. I only half admitted it to myself. You come
here, and they’re available, and they’re almost like a new sex—so smooth and
brown; like plastic.’ He pursed his lips and gave a single snort of laughter at
his own vulgarity. ‘Somehow, with another race it doesn’t seem so wrong. I
felt like André Gide discovering the beautiful Arab boys—you’ve read the
journals? South-East Asia—the Australian queer’s Middle East.’ (YLD, 60)
If Wally believes that he can be himself in Southeast Asia, then he must be willing to
accept his pederasty as something other than degenerate, exploitative and very dangerous.
Cookie tries to warn him about the possible consequences of his all-too-open activities, but
Wally does not listen, and his sudden expulsion from Indonesia comes as a complete surprise
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