Swinging the Maelstrom

by Grace, Sherrill

• ISBN13: 9780773508620
• ISBN10: 0773508627
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1992-05-01
• Publisher: McGill Queens Univ

Summary

Sherrill Grace's introductory essay describes the influence of Lowry's work on artists working in other media. She also includes an important letter from Lowry to the Norwegian writer Nordahl Grieg, published here, with annotations, for the first time. Jan Gabrial, Lowry's first wife, provides an intimate glimpse of Lowry in a biographical story which has been out of print for more than forty years, Hallvard Dahlie documents the connection between Lowry and Nordahl Grieg, and David Falk conjures up an image of Lowry "groping his way through a labyrinth of paper" in an attempt to salvage himself and his texts. Christine Pagnoulle considers the major Volcano translations, Hilda Thomas astutely relates Volcano to contemporary politics and writing, and Frederick Asals provides a valuable study of the evolution of the Volcano manuscript. Joan Mulholland illustrates the centrality of speech acts in a Lowry text, Sue Vice successfully locates Lowry within the vanguard of post-modernism, and Donald Jewison links Lowry with Elias Canetti, Jorge Louis Borges, and Umberto Eco. Cynthia Sugars returns Lowry's Dark as a Grave to the critical limelight, Victor Doyen chronicles the extraordinary gestation of Lowry's final work, October Ferry to Gabriola, and Elsa Linguanti argues that the stories in Hear us O Lord from heaven thy dwelling place are among the best of Lowry's work. Suzanne Kim analyses his creative process and the significant "figures" within Lowry's poems and Mark Ellis Thomas makes a convincing case for the need for further study of Lowry's poetry. Graham Collier, a British jazz composer, discusses the compositional similarities between Lowry's texts and "free jazz"; Robert Kroetsch -- poet, novelist, and critic -- weaves the Lowry voice into his own "celebration of the anguish and ecstasy of creation." The suitability of Lowry's work to investigation by a variety of approaches and the array of international scholars who have contributed to this collection confirm Lowry's reputation as a major twentieth-century writer and make this book an exciting contribution to Lowry studies.

Table of Contents

Frontispiece: El anis del Consul by Alberto Gironella
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations and Editions
Putting Lowry in Perspective: An Introduction	p. 3
Lowry and the Fiction of Life
Not with a Bang	p. 21
"A Norwegian at Heart": Lowry and the Grieg Connection	p. 31
"Nordahl Grieg, I greet you!"	p. 43
Edited by Sherrill Grace
Lowry and the Aesthetics of Salvation	p. 52
Under the Volcano
Genus Floridum: Translating Under the Volcano	p. 63
Edited by Christine Pagnoulle
Praxis as Prophylaxis: A Political Reading of Under the Volcano	p. 82
Revision and Illusion in Under the Volcano	p. 93
The Consul as Communicator: The Voice under the Volcano	p. 112
The Volcano of a Postmodern Lowry	p. 123
The Uses of Intertextuality in Under the Volcano	p. 136
In the Shadow of the Volcano
The Road to Renewal: Dark as the Grave and the Rite of Initiation	p. 149
From Innocent Story to Charon's Boat: Reading the "October Ferry" Manuscripts	p. 163
Hear us O Lord and Lowry's Micro/Macro Text	p. 209
The Emergence of an Authorial Figure in the Manuscripts of Lowry's Poetry	p. 220
Under the Shadow of the Volcano: Malcolm Lowry's Poetry	p. 232
Swinging the Maelstrom: An Apostrophe
Lowry, Jazz, and "The Day of the Dead"	p. 243
Hear us O Lord and the Orpheus Occasion	p. 249
Contributors	p. 265
Index	p. 269
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