Polemics anonymous: James McAuley's nom de plume contributions from Hermes to Quadrant

Ackland, Michael

Abstract

It has been known for many years that lames McAuley made pseudonymous contributions to Quadrant; the problem has been where. Even close former colleagues like Peter Coleman, Donald Home and Vivian Smith, although quite ready to confirm this fact, have not come up with a single location. Tracking down nom de plumes can be extremely difficult, and McAuley was a master of their use long before he was appointed editor of Quadrant in 1955. His most famous alias was Ern Malley, which he shared with Harold Stewart, as he did the campus pseudonym Dulcie Renshaw. Earlier still he contributed numerous works to Hermes signed Glaucon, and perhaps his last pseudonymous avatar was as Peter Winton in the pages of Quadrant in 1960. In issue no. 13 Winton contributed an essay entitled "The Plunge into the Non-Figurative", followed two issues later by "The Time of the Equivocal Man". The identification is made in black ink in McAuley's distinctive handwriting in his own copy of Quadrant, where he added "(JMcA.)" beside the printed name of Peter Winton which concludes the first article. (1) What remains unclear is why McAuley, while enjoying full editorial powers, chose to print his views under various names during this single year and how, if at all, this relates to his earlier practice.

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Southerly

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0038-3732

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Brandl & Schlesinger

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