Ern Malley

Lest we get carried away in presuming the fastness of boundaries between insider and outsider, good and bad, bad Bad and good Bad, it's helpful to recall the Ern Malley hoax.

PoetryFoundation.org 2009

It exemplifies rather a particular strain of modernist poetry, the leading-edge poems of the 1930s that were aped and perfected by the Australian hoax poet Ern Malley.

The Best American Poetry 2010 Amy Gerstler 2010

It exemplifies rather a particular strain of modernist poetry, the leading-edge poems of the 1930s that were aped and perfected by the Australian hoax poet Ern Malley.

The Best American Poetry 2010 Amy Gerstler 2010

It exemplifies rather a particular strain of modernist poetry, the leading-edge poems of the 1930s that were aped and perfected by the Australian hoax poet Ern Malley.

The Best American Poetry 2010 Amy Gerstler 2010

Although initially successful to the point where Max Harris was in fact completely discredited for not having been able to discriminate between hoax and reality, the passage of time revealed that the fictitious poetry of Ern Malley long outlived the poetry of either of the hoaxers.

"bfa after Durer - the Ern Malley piece" Alpha Auer 2008

Thus, Harris enthusiastically promoted the poems in his journal, completely unaware of the fact that Ern Malley was an invention of McAuley and Stewart's.

"bfa after Durer - the Ern Malley piece" Alpha Auer 2008

So, what is the secret message that revolves around Ern Malley which Pavig Lok would have me be riddled with?

"bfa after Durer - the Ern Malley piece" Alpha Auer 2008

Harris was indeed taken in by the beauty of the 17 poems that were sent to him by someone named Ethel Malley, proclaiming that these were poems written by her deceased brother Ern Malley.

"bfa after Durer - the Ern Malley piece" Alpha Auer 2008

The Ern Malley incident is a poetry hoax which occurred in Australia in the 1940's, involving the poets James McAuley and Harold Stewart, and played upon Max Harris, the publisher of the modernist Angry Penguins literary journal.

"bfa after Durer - the Ern Malley piece" Alpha Auer 2008

The somewhat stilted verse of the twosome that created Ern Malley or Ern Malley himself, who unhindered by formality and convention proceeded on to a level of creativity, which was beyond the scope of the "real" persona of its instigators.

"bfa after Durer - the Ern Malley piece" Alpha Auer 2008