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Notes
-
Ern Malley's collected poems were first published in the Autumn 1944 issue of Angry Penguins magazine under the title The Darkening Ecliptic. The collection has been published several times since this initial publication, sometimes with the original title and sometimes with different titles. In addition to changes of title, the publications have included a range of introductions and commentaries, and some have reproductions of artworks by Sidney Nolan. These variations are represented below in the relevant text for each version.
-
Epigraph: Do not speak of secret matters in a field full of little hills. -- Old Proverb
Contents
* Contents derived from the
Melbourne,
Victoria,:Reed and Harris
, 1944 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
- Publishers' Statement, single work criticism (p. 5-6)
-
Untitled,
single work
correspondence
(p. 7-8)
Note: facsim.
- Introduction : The Darkening Ecliptic 1944, single work criticism (p. 9-14)
-
Preface and Statement,
single work
prose
(p. 15)Ern Malley's introductory remarks to The Darkening Ecliptic.
- Durer: Innsbruck, 1495i"I had often, cowled in the slumberous heavy air,", single work poetry (p. 16)
- Sonnets for the Novachord : (i)i"Rise from the wrist, o kestrel", single work poetry (p. 17)
- Sonnets for the Novachord : (ii)i"Poetry: the loaves and fishes,", single work poetry (p. 18)
- Sweet Williami"I have avoided your wide English eyes:", single work poetry (p. 19)
- Boult to Marinai"Only a part of me shall triumph in this", single work poetry (p. 20)
- Sybillinei"That rabbit's foot I carried in my left pocket", single work poetry (p. 21-22)
- Night Piecei"The swung torch scatters seeds", single work poetry (p. 23)
- Documentary Filmi"Innumerable the images", single work poetry (p. 24-25)
- Palinodei"There are ribald interventions", single work poetry (p. 26-27)
- Night-Piece (Alternate Version)i"The intemperate torch grazed", single work poetry (p. 28)
- Baroque Exteriori"When the hysterical vision strikes", single work poetry (p. 29)
- Perspective Lovesongi"It was a night when the planets", single work poetry (p. 30-31)
- Culture as Exhibiti"`Swamps, marshes, borrow-pits and other", single work poetry (p. 32-33)
- Egyptian Registeri"The hand burns resinous in the evening sky", single work poetry (p. 34-35)
- Young Prince of Tyrei"Inattentive, suborned, betrayed, and shiftless,", single work poetry (p. 36-38)
- Colloquy with John Keatsi"I have been bitter with you, my brother,", single work poetry (p. 39-41)
* Contents derived from the
Melbourne,
Victoria,:Lansdowne
, 1961 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
-
Introduction : Ern Malley's Poems,
single work
criticism
(p. 5-20)This introduction tracks the origin and progress of the Ern Malley Hoax beginning with the letters sent to Harris by Malley's sister, 'Ethel Malley', through the media discovery of the deception, the trial on indecency charges and the response to the hoax from the United Kingdom and the USA. Harris provides a summary of the trial in which he was charged with having published fourteen 'indecent advertisements'. (Seven of the fourteen were from The Darkening Ecliptic; the others included the Peter Cowan short story, 'The Fence'.) Also included are extracts from an ABC radio documentary by John Thompson, entitled The Ern Malley Story (1960).
-
Appendix : Ern Malley's Poems, 1961,
single work
criticism
(p. 42-56)
A summary of the trial in which the editor of Angry Penguins was charged with having published fourteen 'indecent advertisements'. (Seven of the fourteen were from The Darkening Ecliptic; the others included the Peter Cowan short story, 'The Fence'.) The summary includes a transcript of a substantial part of the judgement handed down by the magistrate Mr L. E. Clarke.
* Contents derived from the
London,
c
England,c
c
United Kingdom (UK),c
Western Europe,
Europe,:R. Alistair McAlpine
, 1974 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.- Sidney Nolan, Ern Malley and Paradise Garden, single work criticism (p. 7-21)
* Contents derived from the
Sydney,
New South Wales,:Allen and Unwin
, 1988 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
- From the Introduction to the 1961 Edition of 'Ern Malley's Poems', single work criticism (p. 3-15)
- Forty Four Years on ..., single work criticism (p. 16-20)
- Angry Penguins as Cultural Gesture, single work criticism (p. 21-50)
- The Cultural Stream, single work column (p. 53-56)
- Introduction : The Darkening Ecliptic 1944, single work criticism (p. 57-64)
- Elegiac for Ern Malley, single work prose (p. 65-67)
* Contents derived from the
Pymble,
Turramurra - Pymble - St Ives area,
Sydney Northern Suburbs,
Sydney,
New South Wales,:Angus and Robertson
, 1993 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
-
Introduction,
single work
criticism
(p. vi-x)Tucker quotes from Carl Jung's Memories, Dreams and Reflections to posit a theoretical framework from which to approach the Ern Malley poems. Tucker contends that McAuley and Stewart were overtaken by their own creation and succumbed, in the words of Jung, to 'something in me which can say things I do not know and do not intend, things which may even be directed against me ...'.
-
The Hoax,
single work
criticism
(p. 1-20)
This article largely combines two previous articles by Harris - 'From the Introduction to the 1961 Edition of Ern Malley's Poems 'and 'Forty Four Years on...' - both of which were published in The Poems of Ern Malley (1988).
The criticism tracks the origin and progress of the Ern Malley Hoax beginning with the letters sent to Harris by Malley's sister, 'Ethel Malley', through the media discovery of the deception, the trial on indecency charges and the response to the hoax from the United Kingdom and the USA.
Harris provides a summary of the trial in which he was charged with having published fourteen 'indecent advertisements'. (Seven of the fourteen were from The Darkening Ecliptic; the others included the Peter Cowan short story, 'The Fence'.)
In the final section of the criticism, Harris reflects on the uniqueness of literary and cultural developments in Australia in the years since the first publication of Ern Malley's poems in Angry Penguins no.[6] in 1944 and in particular emphasises the role of Modernism.
-
Ern Malley,
single work
criticism
(p. 47-57)Wilson contends that 'Stewart and McAuley's afternoon of slapdash "tachist" invention produced work of genuine merit, which affords us a fascinating insight into the creative process'. Included in Wilson's article is the text of a piece he wrote for the Japanese publication, I.D. Magazine in 1991. The magazine piece recounts the events of the Ern Malley Hoax, quotes extracts from Malley poems and concludes that McAuley and Stewart, 'in trying to create a parody, ... produced the poetic equivalent of a Jackson Pollock painting'.
- The Cultural Stream, single work column (p. 57-60)
- Introduction : The Darkening Ecliptic 1944, single work criticism (p. 60-68)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Related Works
-
y
Garry Shead : The Apotheosis of Ern Malley
Collingwood
:
Australian Galleries
,
2008
Z1598278
2008
single work
non-fiction
Garry Shead interleaves the poetry of 'Ern Malley' with paintings interpreting each poem's theme.
Works about this Work
- Introduction single work criticism Harris tracks the origin and progress of the Ern Malley Hoax beginning with the letters sent to him by Malley's sister, 'Ethel Malley', through the media discovery of the deception, the trial on indecency charges, the response to the hoax from the United Kingdom and the USA and, finally, a 1960 ABC radio programme re-capping the affair.
-
The Orphic Strain in Australian Poetry
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Refashioning Myth : Poetic Transformations and Metamorphoses 2011; (p. 9-27) 'Andrew Johnson argues that "[w]hile poetry in Australia might broadly be read under the aegis of Romanticism, the various Orphic poems could be used as an index of different styles and schools," and claims that "the different approaches and interests of various poets could be measured by their varied responses to the Orphic material." Johnson applies this framework to a close reading of several key Australian poets, including A. D. Hope and the notorious "mythical" poet, Ern Malley.' (Source: Introduction p. 2)
-
y
The Sons of Clovis : Ern Malley, Adore Floupette and a Secret History of Australian Poetry
St Lucia
:
University of Queensland Press
,
2011
Z1803817
2011
single work
criticism
'The Sons of Clovis ... begins with the Ern Malley affair, establishing previously unrecognised connections between the Australian scene and French symboliste poetry, before embarking on a fascinating journey through literature, culture, and poetics.' (Publisher's website)
-
Ern Malley : Doppelganger in the Desert
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Explorations In Australian Poetry 2010; (p. 80-88) Peter Nicholson's essay 'assays the curious case of Ern Malley, an entirely fictional poet, invented in 1943 to expose what the perpetrators thought of as Modernism's foolishness. Nicholson observes that the Ern Malley affair, as it has come to be known does show a certain propensity for literary politicking and obstructionism that has not been without subsequent issue.' (x)
-
Condsidering Ern Malley's 'The Darkening Ecliptic' on a Fine Spring Morning in the Front Garden
i
"it's not so much the caterpillar",
2010
single work
poetry
— Appears in: Porch Music 2010; (p. 48)
-
(The Melbourne) Age, 4 November 1944 and a Subsequent Comment by 'F.S'
1944
single work
review
— Appears in: Jacket , June no. 17 2002;
— Review of The Darkening Ecliptic 1944 collected work poetry -
Anniversary of a Hoax
1970
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian , 30 May 1970; (p. 20)
— Review of The Darkening Ecliptic 1944 collected work poetry -
Pizza Parlour Primitives
1993
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 12 June 1993; (p. 45)
— Review of Poems From the Madhouse [and] Now Millennium 1993 selected work poetry ; The Darkening Ecliptic 1944 collected work poetry ; Poetry Supreme 1992 1993 anthology poetry ; Now Millennium 1993 selected work poetry -
Untitled
1961
single work
review
— Appears in: Walkabout , vol. 27 no. 10 1961; (p. 41)
— Review of The Darkening Ecliptic 1944 collected work poetry ; Soldiers' Women 1961 single work novel -
Half Circle and Sheer Drop
1961
single work
review
— Appears in: Nation , 9 September 1961; (p. 21)
— Review of The Darkening Ecliptic 1944 collected work poetry -
Echoes of Angry Penguins as an Old Phoney and His Sister Return
2003
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 26-27 July 2003; (p. 1) The Age , 26 July 2003; (p. 9) Reports on the discord between Random House and Tom Thompson's ETT Imprint about copyright ownership of the Ern Malley poems. -
Publishers' Statement
1944
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Darkening Ecliptic 1944; (p. 5-6) - Introduction single work criticism Harris tracks the origin and progress of the Ern Malley Hoax beginning with the letters sent to him by Malley's sister, 'Ethel Malley', through the media discovery of the deception, the trial on indecency charges, the response to the hoax from the United Kingdom and the USA and, finally, a 1960 ABC radio programme re-capping the affair.
-
Appendix : Ern Malley's Poems, 1961
1961
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Darkening Ecliptic 1961; (p. 42-56)A summary of the trial in which the editor of Angry Penguins was charged with having published fourteen 'indecent advertisements'. (Seven of the fourteen were from The Darkening Ecliptic; the others included the Peter Cowan short story, 'The Fence'.) The summary includes a transcript of a substantial part of the judgement handed down by the magistrate Mr L. E. Clarke.
-
Australia's Hoax Poet Sets the Literary Establishment Squabbling Once More
2003
single work
column
— Appears in: Independent on Sunday , 3 August 2003; (p. 18) Briefly canvasses the conflict between literary agent Curtis Brown and publisher ETT Imprint over ownership of the Ern Malley poems and notes the publication of My Life as a Fake by Peter Carey.
Last amended 22 Jun 2017 09:18:12
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