Australian Poets Claim Responsibility for a Literary Hoax

Regarded by some as the greatest literary fraud of the twentieth century, the Ern Malley hoax, perpetrated by two Australian soldiers who also were poets, not only raised serious questions about literary authenticity but also led to an obscenity trial that represented the first bureaucratic effort in Australia to censor poetry. Malley's enduring fame as a "poet" has outlived the hoax.