Comments on: Malcolm Lowry’s North Vancouver

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 08 May 2024 17:46:05 +0000

Harry, I am looking to chat with you if you did indeed meet Lowry. Please get in touch with me by email icolasnay@hotmail.com

By: David Tatlock

David Tatlock — Fri, 24 Nov 2023 00:20:27 +0000

There’s much to love about Lowry’s writing, to deal with life’s boredom & the hidden narrative that lies everywhere.

By: Harry Williams

Harry Williams — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 19:58:13 +0000

I met Malcom in about 1943 or 1945. We had a habit of prowling the shoreline looking for anything of value or interest. When we got to the dwelling that turned out to be Malcolm’s home, it was high tide and we could not get by. Malcom was on his deck & hailed us. He was a friendly and outgoing fellow so that was the beginning of several visits by us in the glorious days of summer. Yes, he was a boozer, but he was also a great host, and very gracious to a couple of punk kids unused to pleasant treatment from adults.

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 04:10:21 +0000

UTV was one tough read! Thanks for this post. I must visit this trail!

By: DANIEL FRANCIS

DANIEL FRANCIS — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 18:36:42 +0000

North Vancouver’s most talented, paranoid alcoholic? If it’s a competition, I’d nominate Fred Varley. I don’t know about the paranoid part but certainly he fits the other criteria.

By: Lou McKee

Lou McKee — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 19:59:53 +0000

correction: ‘”.. too hard to read…”

By: Lou McKee

Lou McKee — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 19:53:01 +0000

My father was a fan of ‘Volcano’ and ‘Gabriola’ so I saved these books off his shelf with the intention of reading them…and maybe finding out something more about my father’s inner make-up which is often hard for an offspring to see. Maybe some of the attributes of those writings have been lost due to time and its changes. I could not get through these readings, I am afraid I was bored; to hard to read with any clarity. I am still intrigued by the author and his life story.

By: Bev Archibald

Bev Archibald — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 19:26:28 +0000

Love all your Posts .Very interesting and eye opening ! Thanks ! Have a Great Summer !

By: Kelvin

Kelvin — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 18:37:45 +0000

A guy named Grant Stevenson got into the cabin before is was bulldozed and gathered the manuscripts, put them in his bike basket, and took them home. I think his mother got those to UBC, which were the short stories mentioned.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 03:28:15 +0000

In reply to Dean Kernan.

Actually, it’s October Ferry to Gabriola.

I too have tried to read Under the Volcano and made it about 1/2 way through – must try again. My husband, who was a very great Lowery fan when in his youth, speaks of Lowrey’s work as Joycean, with myriad allusions where you really need a good classical education to really understand them. Kind of like a scavenger hunt! Lowery was quite famous in his day – even my mother, new immigrant from Germany and speaking no English, came to know all about him and read Volcano after she had been here for a few years and mastered English.

By: Douglas Hockley

Douglas Hockley — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 00:20:26 +0000

Lowry wrote one phrase in Under the Volcano that was so insightful…”Behold the agony of the rose”.

By: Dean Kernan

Dean Kernan — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 20:54:02 +0000

Yes, I think Under the Volcano is a tough slog–ultimately worth it, I think. There is a collection entitled “Summer Ferry to Gabriola” which is accessible and a good read.

The story I was told is that at some point his shack caught on fire, and he ran to get help shouting “It’s a conflagration, it’s a conflagration!”–and no one understood what he was saying. (I think it was an English professor of mine at UBC who told this story…)

By: TONI DABBS

TONI DABBS — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 17:25:15 +0000

Models of some of the old squatters’ shacks are located just inside the entrance to Maplewood Flats on the Dollarton Highway. Under management of the Wild Bird Trust of B.C., Maplewood Flats is a pleasant place to walk or bird watch.

By: James Anderson

James Anderson — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 17:22:12 +0000

I’ve been to Dollarton, and also to the house in the village of Ripe in Sussex where he died, to The Lamb, the pub he was banned from, and to his grave in the church of St John the Baptist nearby. When I read Under the Volcano years ago I was very taken with it, but attempting it more recently I gave up.
” … may be North Vancouver’s most talented, paranoid alcoholic…” It sounds like there is competition!

By: John Buckberrough

John Buckberrough — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 15:56:41 +0000

I had Under the Volcano on my shelves for many years before reading it on my first extended Mexico vacation about 12 years ago. I, too, found it a bit of a slog but immediately recognized the area described (Costalegre) and volcano (Colima) as the locations and background which I now visit annually.

By: TONI DABBS

TONI DABBS — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 15:39:32 +0000

“Hear Us O Lord From Heaven Thy Dwelling Place” is a collection of Lowry’s short stories that gives much insight into the Dollarton community where he lived and Vancouver at the time.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 15:28:43 +0000

Very enjoyable read. Have a great summer break!!