About this title: The autobiographical novel of a man trapped by his own sense of acedia--the compulsive need to alienate himself from those who love him and want to help him redeem himself. British consul Geoffrey Firmin is an alcoholic, stationed in Mexico during the Spanish Civil War, who consistently rejects the entreaties of his wife and friends to give up the alcohol that is killing him.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin
Date Published: 1962
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Clean pages, no marks or tears, binding somewhat flexible, black line on bottom outside page edges, some chipping/fading of outside of cover, few creases, dirt soiling to cover. 377p., 18 cm. Originally published, Cape, 1947. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Signet
Date Published: 1966
Description: Good. Name inside loose binding writing inside; 12mo 7"-7˝" tall; 406 pages; Under the Volcano chronciles the events of a single day...The last day in the life of Geoffrey Firmin, British Consul in the town of Quauhnahuac, in Mexico. Lowry's novel the story of a man's compulsive alienation from the world and those who love him-gained, in the two decades since his death, a reputation as a modern classic. This Signet edition brings to thousands of new readers a major work which has been compared ... read more
Description: Acceptable. May have wear or tear to spine, edges and or cover. Creases in spine. Bent/rounded corners. May have highlighting/notes. read more
Description: Signet / New American Library, 1984 328 pages. 1st Signet printing / edition. Mass Market paperback. Introduction by Stephen Spender. Very Good+. Bright, tight and clean; no names, marks or spine creasing. ISBN: 0451132130. read more
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: A Plume Book / Penguin, E Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780452255951ISBN:0452255953
Description: Very Good. 8vo-over 7ž"-9ž" tall. A very good paperback copy, lightly used. The binding is solid and square, and there are no reading creases in the spine. The cover shows only the mildest wear, namely some slight rubbing of the edges. The text is clean and unmarked. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Originally published in 1947, this rather notorious novel is considered by some to be a modern masterpiece. It is the story of a man referred to only ... read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin in association with Cape, Harmondsworth
Date Published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780140083354ISBN:0140083359
Description: Good. 415p. ; 18 cm. Penguin modern classics.. Originally published: London : Cape, 1947. Includes selections from Selected letters / Malcolm Lowry. Originally published: London : Cape, 1967. read more
Edition: First Printing
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: New American Library, New York
Date Published: 1965
Description: No Illustration. Good. No Jacket. EX-LIBRARY. EXPECTED MARKINGS AND ATTACHMENTS. ILLUSTRATED SOFT COVER WITH LIGHT RUBBING, SPINE ENDS LIGHTLY BUMPED. INTERIOR PAGES CLEAN, BRIGHT AND TIGHT. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: The New American Library
Description: Good. B0007HSSV4 Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry. 1966 Signet paperback. First printing. Some cover wear and staining. Pages tanned with age. One paperclip mark. Otherwise clean and tight. Not ex-library. read more
Edition: Later Printing
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: A Plume Book [c.1971], [New York]
Date Published: 1971
ISBN-13:9780452255951ISBN:0452255953
Description: Near Fine. Later [15th] printing thus. 375+ pages. Near Fine or better copy. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: New American Library, New York, NY
Date Published: 1971
Description: Very good No DJ. Chronicles an entirelifetim in the last day of a British consul in Mexico. Book is clean and tight, minor shelf rubbing to cover and some yellowing with age. Nice copy of this title. read more
"No matter how hard I tried, I just could not appreciate this book. I tried reading it several months ago but finally gave up after one hundred grueling pages.
I picked it up again earlier this month and gave it a second try. I managed to force myself through it in about two weeks, but I just could not enjoy this book for the life of me. Reading this felt more like a chore than something leisurely. Malcolm Lowry is incredible at describing scenery and situations, but I feel that does not make this book worthwhile. The novelty of his atmospheres wears off quickly once you realize that the narrative of his characters is seemingly only there to show off Malcolm's intellect.
Malcom's entire novel deals with alcoholism and how a man cannot perform a single task without thinking about when or where his next drink was going to happen. Honestly, after forcing myself through this, I need a stiff drink."
"Of course I can't add much to the heaps and heaps of praise this novel has been getting for its 60+ years of existence; all I can do is confirm for myself that it stands up to its reputation. It is great in all aspects: in character, in plot, in atmosphere, in political and emotional significance. I am sure it will be lodged in my memory like few other books.
And who says no one ever learned anything by reading fiction? I learned a great deal from this book -- a great deal about political history, about geography, about Mexican culture, and even about alcohol and alcoholism itself.
The book can be highly dramatic in its language -- it is a work of late modernism, so that goes without saying -- but it is handled beautifully and never comes across as overly melodramatic. It is also quite funny at times, and horrific at others. Perhaps the most horrific element is the knowledge that Lowry based this book on his own experiences.
Under the Volcano is endlessly layered with characterization, politics, history, and symbolism, and I do not claim to have understood every bit of it. It has inspired me to read up on several topics, and I hope to return to the book for a reread sometime in the future in order to better grasp the work as a whole.
Lowry's self-composed epitaph: Malcolm Lowry Late of the bowery His prose was flowery And often glowery He lived, nightly, and drank, daily, And died playing the ukulele"
"I'll start with the writing. It's absolutely unbelievable. If I missed a couple of sentences because my thoughts began to wander I would force myself to stop and go back because every sentence was incredibly constructed.
That said the story was pretty difficult to stay with. The beginning flutters between the past and the present with very little warning/indication. The whole character of M. Laurelle was confusing and I definitely wouldn't call this a page turner.
It's an uber classic and reads like it. If you enjoy reading dense, human condition focused literature this is all time but it was slow going for me.
BTW if you are a hard drinker or an ex-hard drinker Geoffrey's relationship with alcohol will be difficult to read. It was for me. If you've never been much of a drinker not sure how much the book will make sense.
"This was not an easy book to read. The main character is either quite drunk or suffering from delerium tremens throughout the entire novel, and Lowry goes to great pains to illustrate his fractured mind. Conversation is interspersed with internal dialogue such that it becomes quite difficult to tell who is speaking a line, if it is being spoken at all. At the same time, descriptions of the present flow seamlessly into recollections of the past and back again without so much as a paragraph break. If this were not enough, the narrative is full of short phrases and passages in Spanish, which I did not take the time to translate.
I did not get much out of the novel in spite of my efforts. I have never been an alcoholic, nor part of a love quadrilateral, nor lived in Mexico, nor experienced the political and cultural climate of the 1930s. Thus, I found it difficult to relate to much of anything in the story. I am sure there are deeper levels of meaning than I discovered, but my distance from the intended audience hid them from me.
A comparison with Nabokov's Lolita seems apt. Both were written by men living in their adopted homeland, about men who similarly emigrated to that nation, and with tragic heroes whose faults are so severe that they are not able to participate in civilized society. Perhaps a comparison with Ulysses is more accurate, given the stream of consciousness narration and that the entire plot takes place within a single day. Thankfully, it is at least a bit more accessible than that work. I wish that, like Lolita, I had read a version that was annotated with translations of non-English sections and explanations of cultural vagaries of the time. I am not sorry that I read Under The Volcano, but I cannot recommend it to anyone else."
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