My Life as a Fake was published by Random House Australia in 2003. The novel is inspired by the Ern Malley affair of 1944, in which two Australian poets fabricated a dead poet and a body of modernist poetry as a hoax, only to have the invented work acclaimed as genuinely significant. In Carey’s reimagining, the fictional poet — Christopher Chubb’s creation, Bob McCorkle — takes on independent life, becoming a real person who pursues his creator through decades and across continents, demanding recognition of his own authenticity.
The novel explored one of Carey’s deepest preoccupations: the relationship between fabrication and truth, between the invented identity and the authentic self. If a hoax produces genuine art, is the art any less real? If a character escapes its author, who does the story belong to?
Collecting My Life as a Fake
First edition (Random House Australia, Sydney, 2003): Boards with dust jacket.
Market values:
- Australian first edition, fine in jacket: $30–$75
- UK first edition (Faber): $15–$40
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation.
The Ern Malley Affair
The novel draws on Australia’s most famous literary hoax: in 1944, two young poets (James McAuley and Harold Stewart) invented a fictitious poet named Ern Malley, fabricated a body of work, and submitted it to a modernist literary magazine. The hoax succeeded, the editor was humiliated, and the affair became a defining moment in Australian cultural history. Carey takes the premise further: what if the invented poet came to life? The result is a novel about authenticity, forgery, and the question of whether art can be genuine even when its origins are fraudulent.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Carey always write about Australia? His subjects are predominantly Australian, but many novels are set partly or entirely overseas. Jack Maggs takes place in Victorian London, Parrot and Olivier in America reimagines Tocqueville’s journey, and Carey himself has lived in New York City since the 1990s. The expatriate perspective — Australia seen from abroad — is itself one of his themes.