Under the Volcano (a Signet Book)
Lowry, Malcolm; intro by Stephen Spender
Language: English
Published by Signet/NAL Oct 1984, New York, 1984
- First Edition
- Softcover
- Used
Seller: Ed Buryn Books, Nevada City, CA, U.S.A.Ed Buryn Books
AbeBooks seller since April 10, 2008
Condition: Used
£ 19.49
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
A modern classic, the last day in the life of an alcoholic Brit in Mexico. Bright tight clean copy of PB 1st. 328 pp, tinted edges. MM paperback in color illus wraps.
Seller Inventory # 36124
- Title
- Under the Volcano (a Signet Book)
- Author
- Lowry, Malcolm; intro by Stephen Spender
- Publisher
- Signet/NAL Oct 1984, New York
- Publication year
- 1984
- Condition
- VeryGood+ unmarked.
- Binding
- Soft cover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0451132130
- ISBN 13
- 9780451132130
- Edition
- 1st Signet printing.
- Seller catalogs
- Fiction, Poetry, Literature, Criticism
Geoffrey Firmin, a former British consul, has come to Quauhnahuac, Mexico. His debilitating malaise is drinking, an activity that has overshadowed his life. On the most fateful day of the consul's life--the Day of the Dead, 1938--his wife, Yvonne, arrives in Quauhnahuac, inspired by a vision of life together away from Mexico and the circumstances that have driven their relationship to the brink of collapse. She is determined to rescue Firmin and their failing marriage, but her mission is further complicated by the presence of Hugh, the consul's half brother, and Jacques, a childhood friend. The events of this one significant day unfold against an unforgettable backdrop of a Mexico at once magical and diabolical.
Under the Volcano remains one of literature's most powerful and lyrical statements on the human condition, and a brilliant portrayal of one man's constant struggle against the elemental forces that threaten to destroy him.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
I think I know a good deal about physical suffering. But this is worst of all, to feel your soul dying. I wonder if it is because tonight that my soul has really died that I feel at the moment something like peace...Sometimes I am possessed by a most powerful feeling, a despairing bewildered jealousy which, when deepened by drink, turns into a desire to destroy myself by my own imagination--not at least to be the prey of--ghosts--Malcolm Lowry's Under The Volcano, first published in 1947, is quite simply one of the great novels of the 20th century. Semi-autobiographical, and taking place during the Mexican festival of the Day of the Dead in 1938, it recounts the last day in the life of the alcoholic ex-consul Geoffrey Firmin. Surrounded by the helpless presences of his ex-wife, his half-brother and acquaintances, he descends into a mescal-soaked purgatory, moving inexorably towards his tragic fate. His self-destructiveness reflects a spiritual struggle born of wilful abnegation and passivity, a depressed, existential acquiescence to the futility of positive action.
The story is simple, its manner of telling decidedly not: Lowry's style is dense, symbolic, allusive, the prose thick with resonance, and the structure complex, with flashbacks, abrupt shifts, and a gradual accumulation of information--it is a book that deserves reading and then rereading, for its pattern and subtleties reveal themselves only slowly. Firmin's story anchors the book's political ambience--the rise of Fascism and the tragedy of the Spanish Civil War lie heavily across its pages, and in turn make of Firmin not a character to be pitied but a representative figure of modernity. In this, Lowry's masterpiece has lost none of its power: it speaks to us of suffering and of loneliness, eliciting our compassion under the century's terrible shadow of mortality. --Burhan Tufail
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Ed Buryn Books
Nevada City, CA, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since April 10, 2008
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| Item | 5 to 14 business days | 2 to 4 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 4.35 | £ 7.53 |
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Mail-order bookseller at: PO Box 720, Nevada City CA 95959. My physical address for UPS etc is 15321 Wet Hill Road, Nevada City CA 95959; book orders may also be mailed to this address. Used, rare, out of print. Books available in all categories. However, only a small fraction of my book inventory is listed online so far. Monday through Saturday 10:30am-5:30pm. Besides selling books, I have written, edited, illustrated (art & photos), designed, and published numerous books. My author's credits include several travel titles including "Vagabonding in Europe & North Africa" and "Vagabonding in the USA," a tarot deck called the "William Blake Tarot of the Creative Imagination," and a book of poetry entitled "Sacred Southwest Suite."…
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