The Kaleidoscopic Vision of Malcolm Lowry

Souls and Shamans

Nigel H. Foxcroft

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781498516587
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Latin American & Caribbean Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

The Kaleidoscopic Vision of Malcolm Lowry: Souls and Shamans is an interdisciplinary investigation of the multifaceted, intuitive insight of international modernist writer Malcolm Lowry through an analysis of a selection of works and correspondence. Nigel H. Foxcroft analyzes his psychogeographic perception of the interconnectedness of East-West cultures and civilizations in terms of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican customs; the Mexican Day of the Dead festival; the Atlantis myth; surrealism; and Russian literary, filmic, and political influences. He traces his intellectual efforts in pursuing philosophical and cosmic knowledge to bridge the gap between the natural sciences and the humanities. This monograph identifies Lowry's attempts to reintegrate modernism with primitivism in his quest for an elixir of life for the survival of humanity on the brink of global catastrophe, as indicated in In Ballast to the White Sea and Under the Volcano. It also examines his sustained endeavors to attain psychoanalytical atonement with himself and his environment in Ultramarine, Swinging the Maelstrom, "The Forest Path to the Spring," and October Ferry to Gabriola. It also discusses the odyssey on which Lowry and his literary protagonists embark to connect with the past and to gain a deeper insight into human nature in Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend is Laid, La Mordida, and "Through the Panama." Scholars of cultural studies, history, humanities, Latin American studies, literature, and Russian studies will find this book particularly useful.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Chronology
• Introduction: The Writer as Shaman—the Interconnectedness of East-West Cultures and Civilizations
• 1 Malcolm Lowry’s Modernism: Surrealist, Literary, and Political Influences
• 2 The Evolution of Lowry’s Intuitive Consciousness: Bridging  the  Shamanic Divide in Ultramarine, In Ballast to the  White  Sea, Swinging the Maelstrom, and The 1940 Under  the  Volcano
• 3 In Search of the Souls of Civilization: The Russian Connection in In Ballast to the White Sea and Under the Volcano
• 4 The Mexican Day of the Dead: Under the Volcano’s Zapotec, Aztec, and Spanish Roots
• 5 Exorcising the Specters of the Past: From the Maelstrom of Dark  as  the Grave Wherein My Friend Is Laid to the Atonement  of  La  Mordida and “Through the Panama”
• 6 In Pursuit of Celestial Harmony: The Psychogeographic Ecosphere  of  Eridanus in “The Forest Path to the Spring” and  October  Ferry to Gabriola
• Conclusion: The Quest for the Regeneration of Civilization—a Taoist Climax
• Epilogue
• Appendix
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author