About
Project aims
Editorial committee
Acknowledgements
Site history / future plans
About the Malcolm Lowry Project
This website, intended to be a widely available non-profit venture, complements Chris Ackerley's earlier A Companion to 'Under the Volcano' (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1984), co-authored with Lawrence J. Clipper, and his later "Plenty of Obscure Points": A Supplement to A Companion to 'Under the Volcano' (Malcolm Lowry Review 49 & 50 (Fall 2001 & Spring 2002)). Thanks in no small part to the generosity of UBC Press, the site contains the corrected text of both the Companion and Supplement, as well as a growing number of cross-links to complementary photographs, illustrations, annotations and tangential notes.
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Page references throughout the site are to the Reynal & Hitchcock first American edition (pictured – New York, 1947).
Many of the images are from Chris Ackerley's personal collection, gathered over some 30 years; these are supplemented by others from a variety of sources which we have tried to acknowledge where possible. Please contact us if further acknowledgement is desired or necessary. As the website is still under construction, with some areas anticipated but as yet incomplete, we would be grateful for any suitable materials sent to us for later inclusion.
Professor Chris Ackerley (University of Otago, NZ)
Jefe de Rostrums (Project Leader)
chris.ackerley@otago.ac.nz
David Large (University of Sydney, NSW)
Jefe de Jardíneros (Researcher / Site Manager)
david.large@sydney.edu.au
The aim of these hypertext annotations is twofold: firstly, to offer the beginning reader of Under the Volcano a commentary, page by page and point by point, to find the information needed to clarify the many difficulties the text presents; secondly, to offer the more sophisticated reader a challenging consideration of those difficulties. In principle, then, each note is written to present the relevant facts clearly and concisely, before moving on to consider their wider application.
The philosophy behind this approach is expressed in E. D. Hirsch's Validity in Interpretation, particularly as summed up in his statement that "each interpretative problem requires its own distinct context of relevant knowledge." There is no particular thesis to push, beyond Hirsch's contention that validity in interpretation is a possible and desirable objective. Only occasionally has the "distinct context of relevant knowledge" been extended to include things obviously beyond Lowry's ken. Any allusion or reference of necessity implies a context, and Lowry's intention may be measured against such "relevant knowledge." In each instance, the guiding principle has been what Northrop Frye has called in his Anatomy of Criticism "a sense of tact": that of not imputing to the text at any point a greater significance than it warrants and ensuring that the weight of criticism is roughly in proportion to what the text will bear. [Return to top of page]
Professor Paul Tiessen
Department of English and Film Studies
Wilfrid Laurier University
ptiessen@wlu.ca
Professor Patrick McCarthy
Chair of English
University of Miami
p.mccarthy@miami.edu
Associate Professor Miguel Mota
Department of English
University of British Columbia
motam@interchange.ubc.ca
Emeritus Professor Victor Doyen
Department of English
K.U.Leuven
vik.doyen@arts.kuleuven.be
Colin Dilnot
New Brighton, Wirral
colindilnot@gmail.com
Thanks to:
- The University of Otago, for having contributed several small research grants and summer scholarships to this project.
- UBC Press, for graciously releasing their publishing rights to the Companion, enabling republication in this online format and free public access to the annotations contained herein.
- UBC Special Collections and staff, for their constant encouragement and for their interest in this project.
- Colin Dilnot, for his generosity in sharing with us the manifold blessings of his own Lowry website, Malcolm Lowry at the 19th Hole, and for his hospitality in Liverpool.
- Members of the Editorial Committee, for their valuable feedback.
- Andy Smith and Alberto Rebollo, for their generous contributions to the site.
The Hypertextual Companion to Under the Volcano has undergone several phases of growth since its inception in 2005:
- Working with Prof. Chris Ackerley, Daniel Cape created the original thematic guide, much of which can be browsed in the right-hand frame.
- David Large (MA, Otago) began expanding the original site in 2008, and in 2009 and 2010 began to recontexualise the original content with the annotations in Ackerley and Clipper's 1984 A Companion to 'Under the Volcano' and Ackerley's 2003 "Plenty of Obscure Points": A Supplement to A Companion to 'Under the Volcano'.
- In 2011 the site, in particular Chapter I, was substantially revised and expanded. Further expansions are planned, incorporating Chris Ackerley's ongoing annotations of Lowry's other works and David Large's doctoral research on Lowry.
- The next phase for the site is set to coincide with the ongoing digitalisation of the UBC Special Collections archives. We plan to rewrite entries in light of the discoveries and comments of the EMiC Project, which includes new editions of "Swinging the Maelstrom", In Ballast to the White Sea and the 1940 Volcano.
- The critical bibliography will continue to be updated. Any comments on or contributions to the site will be gratefully received and fully acknowledged in future updates.
This site was last updated in June 2012.
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University of Otago
Dunedin
New Zealand
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