The Robin Williams / John Travolta movie Old Dogs has a scene in which they break into a zoo and find themselves in the penguin enclosure, watched by hundreds of sweet looking penguins, that is until the penguins become hostile and attack, prompting our heroes to yell “Angry penguins.” Whether that was intended to be a reference to Australia’s greatest literary hoax is unlikely but it did bring that incident to mind for me.
Not only is the hoax an illuminating, cautionary tale, it raises issues of the fundamental nature of literature and art and as to what constitutes good and bad art.
