In 1944, Angry Penguins, co-edited by Max Harris, one of modernism's keenest Australian supporters, found itself the target of Australia's most renowned literary hoax - a deception that provided a major setback for Australian modernist literature.
Behind the hoax were James McAuley and Harold Stewart, who were based at the Victoria Barracks in St Kilda Road. Over the course of an afternoon they created a collection of modernist poems and invented a fictional poet, Ern Malley, to highlight the 'decay of meaning and craftsmanship in poetry'. They constructed their poems using a number of different sources, including the Concise Oxford Dictionary, a dictionary of quotations, a rhyming dictionary, a collection of Shakespeare's plays and an American report on the drainage of swamps.
McAuley and Stewart sent the poems to Harris, writing in the guise of Malley's sister, Ethel. Harris thought that he'd found a modernist genius and immediately set about publishing Malley's poems. When the real authors were revealed, Harris was not only the subject of ridicule but was also convicted for distributing indecent material.
The hoax prompted the publication of many books, including the pamphlet Ern Malley and the Angry Penguins, and there continues to be much discussion and debate surrounding Ern Malley. To find out more about the subject, visit Australian Literary Resources and the official Ern Malley website.
On tour are two letters and a telegram that capture the story of the hoax and how it came to be unveiled.
Image: detail from a telegram from a private detective to Max Harris, 1944 |
