Why did James McAuley and Harold Stewart create the Ern Malley hoax?

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Australian literature Australian Aboriginal people dancing during a corroboree.

The Ern Malley hoax of 1944 was orchestrated by poets James McAuley and Harold Stewart to challenge the literary standards of their time. By creating the fictional persona of a deceased mechanic-salesman-poet, they aimed to parody what they perceived as the meaninglessness of experimental verse.1

The hoax served as a pointed critique of contemporary literary trends, signaling a demand for new standards within the evolving landscape of Australian literature.1