JohnnoDavid Malouf's first novel recreates the war conscious forties, the pubs and brothels of the fifties, and the years away treading water overseas. 'Despite Johnno's assertion that Brisbane was absolutely the ugliest place in the world, I had the feelings as I walked across deserted intersections, past empty parks with their tropical trees all spilked and sharp edged in the early sunlight, that it might even be beautiful . . . ' Dante and Johnno are