Content
All of Malcolm Lowry’s work is a form of semi-autobiographical fiction imbued with his recondite and freewheeling reading, which included a persistent interest in the esoteric. In the first chapter alone of his classic work Under the Volcano (1947), there are numerous specific references to the supernatural.
The deserted hotel on the hill in the Mexican town which is the scene of the book has a casino haunted by the ghosts of gamblers. The character of M. Laruelle, the French film director, visits the ruined palace and gardens of the Emperor Maximillian and his Empress, which seem haunted by their fate. And he remembers a visit to Chartres, the vista of the cathedral’s towers and the numinous ambience of the city.
The same chapter includes numerous other uncanny images, and allusions to Blake, Swedenborg and the Kabbalah. It is, in short, an occult novel. Indeed, Lowry said the Consul, the main protagonist, was a Cabbalist: he is writing a book on Secret Knowledge.
The Magus of Mexico: Malcolm Lowry, Myth and Magic is the first critical anthology to explore these important aspects of his work.
Helen Tookey evokes Under the Volcano with the help of Tarot imagery.
Mark Goodall looks at Lowry’s use of alcohol as a magical practice.
James Riley considers the book in the context of shamanism.
Michael Romer studies Lowry’s links to Aleister Crowley.
Adriana Díaz Enciso explores Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend is Laid, a sequel to Volcano, and its handling of the themes of friendship and returning.
Jonathan Wood offers a ‘meditative semi-fiction’ on Lowry’s fascination with the sea.
Mark Valentine’s essay discusses Lowry’s interest in supernatural fiction in his story Elephant and Coliseum.
John Howard discusses landscape mysticism in the story The Forest Path to the Spring.
Finally, the late John Hyatt recalls his own acts of art-magic in response to Volcano and other works.