In 1944 the Australian literary world was rocked by a hoax which was to become a worldwide scandal. Ern Malley, deceased motor mechanic and poet, and his sister Ethel, were the invention of two Sydney poets, James McAuley and Harold Stewart, who were intent on proving that modern poetry was a sham. The work of the Malleys comprised lines and words selected randomly, from Shakespeare to an American report on the drainage of the breeding grounds of mosquitos... Max Harris published the poetry in the literary magazine Angry Penguins but when the deception was revealed he was mercilessly lampooned, tried and convicted of publishing ‘indecent advertisements’. This definitive edition contains all of the Malley poems, introduced by Albert Tucker with historical background by Max Harris, John Reed and Colin Wilson; augmented by the unique contribution of drawings and etchings by Garry Shead.
