This book has whetted an appetite for more Lowry – luckily there are some fantastic online resources to aid further study
Strictly speaking, we should be at the end of our Lowry coverage this month, but this book is so good, and there's so much to say about it, I thought it worth posting another quick article.
First, as with Proust a few months ago, it seemed to me a good idea to leave a post open for a few weeks in which we can put more ideas and questions about the novel. If you're like me you'll have bounced straight into a second reading of the book and more and more things will be emerging …
Second, there's a lot of fascinating Lowry material out there that's worth briefly highlighting.
The first stop is, of course, the Malcolm Lowry project, that wonderful resource of explanations, images and references relating to Under the Volcano.
If you haven't already seen it, I also highly recommend the documentary Volcano, An Enquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry, a wonderful mix of documentary and arthouse, and a great insight into Lowry's life and work from people who knew him well.
Elsewhere, the owner of the Twitter account @malcolmlowry (who can also be found as @nicklabbe), sent me a list of recommendations that I'll list below, just as soon as I've expressed my gratitude. Thanks @malcolmlowry!
The 19th Hole is a site set up by Liverpool artist Colin Dilnot, containing a wealth of observations, images and ideas relating to Lowry and Under the Volcano.
Gutted Arcades of the Past, also from Colin Dilnot, is an encyclopedia of Lowry's life from 1909 to 1934 – the year he set sail for the New World and Mexico.
The industrious Dilnot has also produced Malcolm Lowry's Library, a site listing and discussing the books that Lowry owned. And here is my favourite, an imaginary collection of postcards inspired by the life and work of the author. Wouldn't you love to get a postcard from Malcolm Lowry?
Elsewhere, it's also worth looking at Nicholas Labbe's own Flickr account, which is full of images of Lowry himself, Lowry's book, and, naturally, mescal.
Following our splendid webchat with Chris Ackerley, I'm also very pleased to be able to direct you to this fascinating podcast about In Ballast to the White Sea, Lowry's long-lost novel. Ackerley also has a critical edition of Swinging the Maelstrom on the way .
Talking of academic research, you'll find all kinds of interesting nuggets by clicking around in this University of British Columbia archive.
Nick Labbe also recommends reading Gordon Bowker's Pursued by Furies, a "fantastic" and "exhaustive" biography of the writer. On that note, I'd also add The Voyage That Never Ends, a pleasingly fat collection of Lowry's short fiction, fragments and letters. It includes the famous (and astonishing) 40-page letter to Jonathan Cape explaining the meaning of his novel – and why it wasn't such a good idea to change it, as the publisher had desired.
And that should be plenty to be going on with! If you have any other suggestions, do please post them here. And if you wish to say anything else about this incredible book, this is the chance.
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