UNDER THE VOLCANO

Description

Under the Volcano is a late modernist masterpiece, and the work for which Malcolm Lowry is most known. Set in a small Mexican town, the novel follows the exploits of the Consul Geoffrey Firmin (which mainly involve drinking heroic quantities of mezcal) as he ruminates on his failures in life. In a drunken stream-of consciousness that lies somewhere between Joyce and Jean Rhys, different threads of political debates, philosophical musings, biographical reminiscences and literary references all drift in and out of focus—the effect is itself almost intoxicating. Amongst Lowry’s breadth of reference, one can even detect his interest in Swedenborgianism; the iconography of Swedenborg’s theological works serves as an apt companion to the depiction of a man’s descent into an inner hell.