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VOLCANO: AN INQUIRY INTO THE LIFE AND DEATH OF MALCOLM LOWRY | Full Documentary | NFB — Transcript

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0:01[Music]
0:20Heat. Heat.
0:26[Music]
0:42[Music]
0:59My secrets are of the grave and must be
1:02kept.
1:04And this is how I sometimes think of
1:05myself as a great explorer who has
1:08discovered some extraordinary land from
1:10which he can never return to give his
1:12knowledge to the world. But the name of
1:14this land is hell. It is not Mexico, of
1:19course, but in the heart.
1:21[Music]
1:34I just couldn't see any way for Malcolm
1:36to uh
1:38to go out except the way he did,
1:41which apparently he drowned in his own
1:44vomit. And I don't see anything wrong
1:47with that. I think it's quite infitting
1:48in keeping with
1:51the way Malcolm lived.
1:54I don't know whether it was suicide or
1:56what?
1:57I don't think anybody found out, did
1:58No. No, I don't think so. No. I think it
2:01was tablets and gin.
2:03No. No. Heart.
2:06Heart.
2:06Heart failure. Yes. Sudden. Or choking.
2:09I don't know which. No. Heart failure. I
2:11think
2:12I understand. Then doctor. On the 4th of
2:14July 1957, an inquest into the death of
2:17Malcolm Lowry, a writer by profession,
2:20was convened in a coroner's courtroom
2:22near the village of Rie in the south of
2:24England. A key witness was his landlady.
2:28She said there was a question of um of
2:32suicide, taking his life because a
2:35bottle of sleeping pills was quite
2:37empty. Well, of course, poor old
2:39Marjorie may have been taking them. And
2:42when the I suppose inquest man, whatever
2:45he was, he kept harking back on those.
2:48Can you tell me anything about those
2:50pills? I said, "No, I can't. I know
2:52nothing very little about their private
2:54life. Certainly not about their pills.
2:56You must ask Marjorie."
2:59The widow Marjorie had been terrified
3:01that the great national newspapers would
3:03descend on the village courtroom and
3:05broadcast to the world the sorted
3:07details of a great writer's death.
3:09Thank you, doctor.
3:11After all, the Times of London itself
3:13had once called him a genius.
3:16In fact, only a single reporter from the
3:18local paper was on hand to record the
3:20event. And to the local reporter, Lowry
3:23was merely a gin soaked hack who had
3:25abused his wife, swallowed 50 tablets of
3:28sodium aml, eaten a few bites of food,
3:31and dropped dead.
3:33He was known to have had a compulsion to
3:35stuff things in his mouth
3:36indiscriminately.
3:38And so the coroner's jury decided that
3:40Malcolm Lowry had not committed suicide
3:42but had merely suffered death by
3:44misadventure.
3:49Towards evening the recctor, who was an
3:52old saint, the recctor here, came in and
3:55said, "I've just come to tell you it's
3:57all right. I can give him burial in the
3:59churchyard."
4:02Years earlier, Malcolm Lowry had written
4:04his own epitap.
4:07Malcolm Lowry late of the bar. His pros
4:10was flowery and often glar. He lived
4:13nightly and drank daily and died playing
4:18the ukulele.
4:27Only seven persons attended the funeral
4:29and afterwards an occasional friend
4:31would come to pay his respects.
4:34Perhaps Malcolm Lowry had really died 10
4:37years earlier when he had laid his
4:39innermost feelings out for everyone to
4:41study in a book called Under the
4:43Volcano.
4:46He told me he was doomed. I believed
4:49him. But the suffering he had to go
4:52through in order to produce the volcano,
4:54that's the thing that simply as a human
4:56being makes one wonder whether the
4:58game's worth the candle. I'd rather have
5:01the game and the candle and so far
5:03managed it. But Malcolm was one of these
5:05people doomed as he said. He had to
5:07choose the one or the other. He chose he
5:09was completely consistent in a certain
5:12sense. He knew what he was about. Uh and
5:15he he chose to live as he did and he
5:17produced the volcano. I chose to live in
5:19a different way and I didn't produce
5:20anything much. Oh,
5:22that's not true. You produced a lot.
5:24Well, yes, but I'm still alive. That's a
5:26big difference. You know, he's dead.
5:30[Music]
5:37Lowry began to write the novel which
5:39both destroyed him and made him into a
5:41legend under the shadow of the Mexican
5:44volcano Pop Catapetal.
5:46[Music]
6:04In the book, he compressed his entire
6:06experience into a single day. November
6:102nd, 1938,
6:12the Mexican Day of the Dead.
6:19[Music]
6:30I think I know a good deal about
6:32physical suffering, but this is worst of
6:34all to feel your soul dying.
6:37I wonder if it is because tonight my
6:39soul has really died that I feel at the
6:42moment something like peace.
6:45Or is it because right through hell
6:47there is a path and though I may not
6:50take it sometimes lately in dreams
6:53I have been able to see it.
7:00[Music]
7:03Suddenly from outside a bell spoke out
7:05then ceased abruptly.
7:07Doente Delore.
7:11Over the town in the dark, tempestuous
7:13night backwards revolved the luminous
7:16wheel.
7:18[Music]
7:32Malcolm Lowry was born in 1909 near
7:35Liverpool in the north of England.
7:38His father was a wealthy cotton
7:39merchant. He was the youngest of four
7:42sons.
7:44The front lawn was 5 acres in size and
7:47contained a tennis court and a small
7:49golf course. There was a maid, a cook,
7:51and a nanny. But Lowry always complained
7:54that his mother neglected him. His
7:57closest companion was his brother
7:59Russell.
8:01mother I didn't like at all. None of us
8:03did. This is not a nice thing to say,
8:06but she was um she finally defeated all
8:10four of us. And this is 100% not a very
8:14nice thing to do. Uh but in the early
8:18stages, we're very happy family.
8:21So that I would say that we started off
8:23on a good affectionate domestic basis,
8:25but it gradually tapered away. I'm
8:27afraid to come back again in the end
8:29with with the old man. He he was he
8:30meant well but he was just a Victorian
8:33father.
8:35How do you think that he he saw the
8:36boys? I mean
8:38this I don't know. He used to say of
8:41course I've got plans for all my boys
8:43but he never said what they were.
8:45His father was a compulsive bodybuilder
8:48who had won a medal for life saving in
8:49the icy waters of the D and had once
8:52been declared the best developed man in
8:53England. The boys were expected to
8:56follow his example.
9:00At 15, young Malcolm won the junior
9:02championship at the famed Royal
9:04Liverpool Golf Club at Hoy Lake.
9:07To all external appearances, he was a
9:09healthy upper middle class English lad.
9:12He later claimed that he was brutally
9:14beaten and half drowned by cruel nannies
9:16and was crippled and blind. This appears
9:20to have been somewhat exaggerated.
9:23Uh he got ulcers on his eyes on his
9:26corneal ulcers. They were painful like
9:29stars on the on the inside and we had to
9:32put drops in his eyes. He had this
9:34trouble for some time and eventually
9:37father took him down to London where he
9:39saw a Dr. Hudson or Mr. Hudson. I
9:41suppose it was an imminent Oculus. We
9:44scraped Malcolm's eyes with a razor
9:46blade. Sound pretty grim. Uh, and
9:49cleaned them up. And that was the end of
9:52that.
9:57[Music]
10:01In due course, he was packed off to the
10:03inevitable public school. It was the Le,
10:06a school made famous in the novel
10:08Goodbye Mr. Chips. But even that lovable
10:12old school master failed to inspire
10:14young Malcolm.
10:19Uh academically
10:21uh he was uh average.
10:25He was he was very good-looking. All the
10:29Lowry boys were were very good-looking.
10:33Uh he didn't pay much attention to
10:36dress. Uh, in fact, probably uh tried to
10:41be as unusual as school regulations
10:44would allow and uh tended rather to uh
10:49uh possibly uh slouch
10:55a little about the place
11:06after I've said grace. There'll be one
11:08or two notices and the meal won't be
11:11served until after those.
11:18Venictus Benet
11:28will Julian Jones please see the sister
11:30after lunch.
11:32The sixth form O and A level candidates
11:36Barker Klough Hart Hawin Le
11:41and Lowry who was now muscle bound
11:44chronically constipated had very small
11:46hands which he hated and was a figure of
11:49fun on bath nights because of his tiny
11:52penis.
11:54He was a sports reporter for the school
11:55magazine and wrote songs for school
11:58concerts with a scrawny young classmate
12:00named Ronnie Hill. I'm piling
12:05shady trees, thousing bees. Here comes
12:08the break. Yes, I've said so long to
12:11everything Chinese. I left my girl in
12:15Shanghai.
12:17Said she'd marry me. My
12:20but as I knew the thing she'd do, it's
12:25bye-bye, old Shanghai.
12:29And we did this one song in particular.
12:31I don't know what it was all about. It
12:32was called Hindu Babe.
12:35And uh while we while we did the he
12:37loved doing this one and it was the one
12:39which had a little lot of little breaks
12:40sort of Hindu babe I love you love you
12:44love you very jazzy and he used to do um
12:47used to put a fart in. And so you would
12:50go Hindu babe I love you fart love you
12:52fart love you I mean nobody else in the
12:54world could do it.
12:55Can you play it with the farts in?
12:56No I can't I can't do it. Da da da da da
13:01da. And where I'm moving is where the
13:03fart comes. But it was great talent.
13:08At 17, Malcolm was delivered in the
13:10family limousine to the Liverpool
13:12doside. Reporters were on hand to
13:15witness the event.
13:17The little rich boy was shipping out to
13:19the China Seas. His six months as a
13:22deckhand would be largely spent serving
13:24tea, but it also fed an imagination that
13:27would one day transform that voyage into
13:30literature.
13:36He remembered his freighter with a cargo
13:38of animals.
13:41There had been not only lions, but
13:43elephants, tigers, jaguars, all barn for
13:47a zoo.
13:49The panthers died
13:51in the Indian Ocean at night. The lions
13:55roared. The elephants trumpeted and
13:58vomited so that none save the carpenter
14:00dared go forward. When they smashed into
14:03the hurricane, the Jagger was moaned in
14:06terror like frightened children.
14:09No forest had ever plunged so deeply in
14:11the long bending winds as that ship.
14:38[Music]
14:55ah the harbor bells of Cambridge whose
14:59fountains and moonlight enclosed courts
15:01and closters whose enduring beauty in
15:03its virtuous remote self asssurance
15:05seemed heart less of the loud mosaic of
15:08one stupid life there than the strange
15:11dream of some old monk 800 years dead. A
15:17dream jealously guarded. Keep off the
15:20grass.
15:22And yet whose unearly beauty compelled
15:25one to say,
15:28"God, forgive me."
15:36In 1929, Lowry had been enrolled at St.
15:39Catherine's College, Cambridge.
15:41I was sitting up reading Plato, Miss
15:44Bungalow,
15:46and suddenly he appeared.
15:49Came up with this rolling gate of
15:51seaman,
15:53wearing
15:55what had once been a very good well-cut
15:58suit. It was no longer that. He was
16:02carrying
16:03a kind of hold
16:06and a ukulele.
16:08We introduced each other. I said, "I
16:11have bought some drink." He said, "So
16:14have I." And he produced half a bottle
16:17of rum.
16:19So we settled down. Within five minutes,
16:23he was lying underneath the table
16:26strumming his ukulele.
16:29He became a member of Charlotte
16:31Haldane's fast literary set. Armed with
16:34a ukulele and a regular injection of his
16:36father's money, he was seldom seen at
16:38the university.
16:40He had, as he said, better things to do.
16:48started.
16:53[Applause]
16:55[Music]
17:03The last man to see the student alive
17:06had been his fellow undergraduate
17:08Malcolm Lowry.
17:10[Music]
17:14Lowry testified under oath that his
17:16friend had been depressed by an
17:17accumulation of gambling debts. Years
17:20later, he told the truth to his
17:21psychiatrist.
17:23Uh his fellow undergraduate
17:27had um tried to have a homosexual
17:31relationship with him. Um Malcolm Lara
17:35thought this was extremely funny. He
17:37thought it was a great joke. And um when
17:41the young man said that uh if this were
17:44not possible he would commit suicide
17:48um Malcolm Larry told me at any rate
17:50that he said uh that's a good idea. Why
17:53don't you go ahead and uh you'll be
17:57probably much happier and better off
17:59there than here. Next morning the uh
18:03young man was found to have committed
18:05suicide. Now this haunted him for the
18:08rest of his days.
18:12Paradise Street in Liverpool also
18:14haunted him for the rest of his days. He
18:16had been taken there when he was 5 years
18:18old and given a tour of the Syphilis
18:21Museum.
18:32[Music]
18:37Pay attention to your trouser button,
18:40and see him, if you will, for yourself,
18:43the syphilolytic, as he strolls aimfully
18:46down Great Homer Street. Look how
18:49everyone he touches is smitten with a
18:51dire disease.
18:53It is just that one little word, the
18:56word that kills.
18:58This is he, the human husk, the leaf of
19:03ash, ashes to ashes and dust to dust.
19:14The college musical that year was
19:16laughing at love and it featured Malcolm
19:19Lowry as a cabaret artist. He was also
19:22writing a novel and short stories for a
19:24college literary magazine edited by Hugh
19:27Sykes Davis.
19:30Malcolm uh was interesting and valuable
19:33to us as editors and we were I imagine
19:35his first publishers. You see we
19:36published stuff of his above all because
19:39he wrote in pros. Now at that time
19:42poetry was the fashionable thing. The
19:44notion that you could write creative and
19:46imaginative pros was just there because
19:49Joyce was in the background. You see, we
19:51knew about all that, but mostly our
19:54contributors wrote stream of
19:55consciousness stuff of an unutterable
19:57boredom. I cannot describe how
19:59shattering. But Malcolm came along doing
20:01the same kind of thing. But his stuff
20:04was different. I I remember read still
20:06remember reading a a script of his in
20:08this rather odd typewriting, you know,
20:10that naturally resulted. My first murder
20:13was committed in a windmill. Well, I
20:16must say that riveted my attention, you
20:17know, and I I said we ought to publish
20:19this stuff and we did.
20:22After a furious burst of academic
20:24application, Lowry managed to gain an
20:27English trip degree, third class. He
20:30also finished his novel, ultramarine.
20:34Of it, the Times of London said, "If the
20:36art of writing is imitation, the author
20:39has mastered it."
20:41Nevertheless, it was good enough to get
20:43published. And Lowry was a young man of
20:46accomplishment.
20:50There is no evidence that his mother
20:52ever read the book. Lowry had been
20:54seeing less and less of his family, but
20:56he did return for his 21st birthday.
20:59Well, we father raised his glass and we
21:02drank Malcolm's health and uh then he
21:06cleared his throat and said, "Well,
21:08Malcolm, what's your first recollection?
21:09You know, think I was sitting on your
21:11dead knee, Eddie. I wanted was a desire
21:13to dance and Malcolm as I said looked
21:16across at me and frowned and then he
21:17looked up at the ceiling and said as far
21:20as I can remember my childhood was one
21:22of perpetual gloom I was either blind
21:25constipated or a [ __ ]
21:27and um well this didn't warm things up
21:31very much he was obviously trying to be
21:34unpleasant wasn't he
21:37from the age of 25 he never saw a blood
21:40relative again One of his last visits
21:42was to his sister-in-law.
21:45And then he called on me shortly after
21:48we were married.
21:50Studdedly uh picturesque again, wearing
21:54an Alfred Hope jersey across a very
21:57impressive chest indeed.
22:01Uh I can't remember anything about his
22:04uh
22:05the rest of his attire, but shall we say
22:07it was neglig.
22:10and he talked very sweetly for a short
22:13time and then
22:16said, "Oh, I see we've got a garden. One
22:19day I too will have a garden and I will
22:23grow nothing in it but mushrooms.
22:25Goodbye."
22:27And he left and I never met him again.
22:37Lowry left the gentile life forever.
22:40Now he was in London, Paris and Spain.
22:43His father sent him six guineies a week.
22:45His mother sent him the British Weekly.
22:48And he shared his frequent hangovers
22:49with old pals from Cambridge like Martin
22:52Case.
22:54He and I were walking along a street not
22:57far from the Fitzroy Tavern one
22:59afternoon.
23:01And in those days there were still
23:02horses and carts to be seen in the
23:04streets of London. Well, you're just
23:07passing a horse in a cart and the horse
23:10I don't think I can do it for you, but I
23:11don't know whether you know the kind of
23:14No, I can't do it. No, I can't do it.
23:17Noise that they make with their lips.
23:19And this horse made this in Malcolm's
23:20ear as we passed. Malcolm without
23:23thinking, he just automatically thought,
23:25"Damn it, things was jaring at me." Came
23:27around with his fist about six inches,
23:29that's all. And the horse fell to its
23:30knees. So, practically knocked out. not
23:34get a horse with one punch.
23:35Yes. And a very short punch at that. And
23:37he was terribly distressed about it
23:39because he was the kindest soul and
23:41loved animals. He thought, "My god, I've
23:43caused some distress to this horse. What
23:44have I to do?" And it was weeks before
23:46he forgot about it and stopped talking
23:48about it. Of course, the horse wasn't
23:49hurt at all. It picked itself up in no
23:51time.
23:54It isn't a question of being drunk from
23:56time to time. That's normal. That
23:57happens to a lot of good citizens and
23:59ordinary people. Point was with him and
24:01with his friend John Devport from across
24:03this yard now ladies
24:05how rarely they were totally sober it
24:08couldn't have amounted to more than an
24:09hour or two a month you see it's this
24:11persistent drinking uh not so that he
24:14was ever quarrelome he was always very
24:17gentle delicate polite that they didn't
24:20get like that but uh they got used to
24:23being tight
24:25but other friends were beginning to
24:26notice a strangeness in Lowry which
24:29could not be explained plain by booze.
24:32And he said,
24:34"You know, they put a male nurse on me
24:38to shadow me." And we said, "What do you
24:41mean?" He said, "He was there this
24:44afternoon."
24:46We said, "Where?" He said, "Out in Tor
24:48Bay." In the middle of Tor Bay. I turned
24:50over on my back to float and there he
24:53was swimming towards me. Well, we said,
24:56"Where is he now?"
24:58Oh, he said he's gone. He's like that.
25:02He just appears and he disappears.
25:05And that was really the first time that
25:08one became to be a little
25:12speculative about him, you know.
25:16He had had little to do with women. Now
25:18in Spain, he met a beautiful American
25:20writer named Jan Gabriel and fell in
25:23love.
25:24Oh, he was a he was rather like a rather
25:27little boy, rather shy and bubbling, you
25:29know, and rather anxious to show off his
25:31new possession to the best best effect.
25:34Oh, this is very charming actually, very
25:36sweet, both of them.
25:39[Music]
25:57They were married in 1934,
26:00but a few months later, Lowry was on the
26:02Queen Mary, steaming towards New York to
26:05try to find his wife. Jan Gabriel had
26:09fled her new husband.
26:13[Music]
26:22[Music]
26:30Now he was in New York, a city he
26:32described as having an existential fury,
26:35and there was little to distinguish him
26:37from the other helpless children of the
26:39streets. He found his wife, and they
26:41were together spasmotically. But Jan
26:44Gabriel now realized that what he wanted
26:46was not a wife, but a mother.
26:50I think that she was terribly distraught
26:53by his drinking and also by the fact
26:56that uh that a few
27:01um [ __ ] were uh on his tail. You should
27:05forgive the expression.
27:12At one point, Malcolm had one of his
27:14choking attacks and threw himself on the
27:16ground on his stomach, asking me to bang
27:19him on the back, which I did till he
27:21began to recover.
27:23We finally reached the inn, but instead
27:25of going to my room, we went to NY's
27:26because it was bigger. We locked the
27:29door and went to bed together. He was
27:32very affectionate, much kissing, but
27:34nothing else really. He was not capable
27:37of it, probably due to the drink or
27:38possibly he was impotent. About noon,
27:41there was a knock on the door. I called
27:44out, "Can't you understand when two men
27:46want to be alone together?" And they
27:47went away.
27:50He awakened one morning not knowing if a
27:54sexual act had taken place between
27:57himself and a man who was after him. But
27:59he w was worried about whether he had
28:02contracted a veneerial disease. And he
28:04asked me if I knew a doctor.
28:14[Music]
28:24We interrupt this broadcast
28:26Richard Hoffman died in the electric
28:28chair at 4 minutes past midnight ago for
28:31the kidnapping and murder of a Denver
28:33baby. Execution took place at St.
28:36Penitentiary in upstate New York.
28:38Officer was arrested 19 months ago.
28:41He maintained his
28:45deepening sense of sin and guilt went
28:48far beyond the occasional homosexual
28:50indiscretion.
28:53It seemed to penetrate every corner of
28:55his being. Drink helped to appease the
28:58demons, but he sensed that there was
29:00only one way they could be truly
29:02exercised.
29:04He could write them to death.
29:08He goes into another saloon.
29:12From this he emerges cunningly repaired.
29:16Again the pilgrimage starts.
29:20Perhaps like the poor cat who had lost
29:22an eye in a battle. He is just looking
29:24for his sight.
29:27Near him arrogant bearded dereliks
29:30cringe over spatoon.
29:33And of these men he seems afraid.
29:38He wanders from saloon to saloon as
29:40though searching for something, but
29:43always keeping the hospital in sight.
29:47Once he stops in a church, his lips
29:51moving something like a prayer.
29:54Inside it is cool.
29:58Around the walls, a picture the stages
30:00of the cross.
30:02Nobody seems to be looking.
30:05He likes drinking in churches
30:07particularly,
30:09but afterwards he comes to a place not
30:11like a church at all.
30:15This is the hospital. All day he has
30:18hovered around it. Now it looms up
30:21closer than ever.
30:24Tilting the bottle to his mouth, he
30:26takes a long final draft.
30:30With the dithering crack of a ship going
30:32on the rocks, the door shuts behind him.
30:36How do you know?
30:38You're not signing your name.
30:41How come you don't sign your name when
30:42you go to work? Don't you know? Don't
30:46you know your name?
30:48I know. I know my name. I know.
30:53An almost incoherent Malcolm Lowry had
30:56been committed to the Belleview
30:57Psychiatric Hospital. Here was a place
31:00that took cases no one else would touch.
31:04How do you know you're there? You're not
31:06signing your name.
31:11I know.
31:15Up to now he had been merely a posour
31:17playing with ideas of madness and
31:19oblivion.
31:21But this was no longer the rich bourgeoa
31:23world where one fell about on soft
31:26grass. Here were minds that were really
31:28rotted by alcohol, syphilis,
31:31hopelessness.
31:32Here were things that kept on living
31:35despite the fact they were beyond
31:37repair.
31:42Keys clashed like symbols. The bathroom
31:45door banged open. The daily routine was
31:49beginning.
31:50Presently, the rooms were filled with
31:52the dreadful noise of shuffling feet.
31:57Watching them, he gradually thought he
32:00understood the meaning of death.
32:03Not as a sudden dispatch of violence,
32:06but as a function of life.
32:14After 3 weeks of confinement, the
32:16immigration authorities began to take
32:18notice of Larry.
32:20It was possible he would be deported as
32:22an alien madman.
32:24He fled the hospital in terror.
32:33Outside he felt no sense of release,
32:36only in quietude.
32:38He kept gazing back with a sort of
32:40longing at the building that had been
32:43his home.
32:45[Music]
32:49Returning to the saloon,
32:52he picked out a secluded place to sit
32:54where they brought his whiskey. But
32:56feeling he was being watched even there,
32:58he moved later, drinking hand, to the
33:01very obscurest corner of the bar, where,
33:04curled up like an embryo, he could not
33:07be seen at all.
33:17And yet Malcolm Lowry would begin his
33:19great book with the words of Sophocles,
33:22"Wonders are many and none is more
33:25wonderful than man.
33:27[Music]
33:57On the day of the dead, November 2nd,
33:591936,
34:01Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm Lowry arrived in
34:03Mexico.
34:06Lowry was 27 years of age. His passport
34:09described him as a writer.
34:11But he considered his only book an
34:13embarrassment.
34:14His life in fact was an embarrassment.
34:19[Music]
34:23He looked at the son, but he had lost
34:26the son. It was not his son.
34:31Like the truth, it was well now
34:32impossible to face.
34:35He did not want to go anywhere near it,
34:37least of all sit in its light facing it.
34:40[Music]
34:42Jan Gabriel was not spending too much
34:44time with Malcolm Lowry. She was sure
34:47she had married a genius, but that
34:49genius seemed largely bent on
34:51self-destruction.
34:54At any rate, they settled in a small
34:56house on the Cay Humbled.
34:58The street sat on the edge of a baranka,
35:01a deep ravine that served as an open
35:03sewer.
35:04For Lowry, this became a mystical
35:06symbol, as did the twin volcanoes, Popa
35:09Catapal and Xiwatle, that sat on the
35:13horizon.
35:15Here he began to write a story he called
35:18under the volcano.
35:21He lay back in his chair.
35:25to Key Wle and Papa Caterpill. That
35:28image of the perfect marriage lay now
35:30clear and beautiful on the horizon under
35:32an almost pure morning sky.
35:36Far above him a few white clouds were
35:38racing windy after a pale gibbous moon.
35:42"Drink all morning," they said to him.
35:45"Drink all day. This is life."
35:50enormously high, too. He noticed some
35:53vultures waiting, more graceful than
35:55eagles, as they hovered there like burnt
35:58papers floating from a fire.
36:01[Music]
36:02The shadow of an immense weariness stole
36:05over him.
36:07The console fell asleep with a crash.
36:12Gradually, a creature that Lowry called
36:15simply the console began to emerge.
36:20Miraculously, for he was still drinking
36:22as heavily as ever, and his marriage was
36:24in shreds, Lowry began to write as he
36:27had never written before. Perhaps this
36:30was his last hope, the justification and
36:32redemption of his largely worthless
36:35life. For the consul, who drinks Mezcow
36:38down to the worm, is not a creature of
36:41fiction at all, but Malcolm Lowry
36:43himself.
36:49Oozing alcohol from every pore, the
36:52consul stood at the open door of the
36:54salon of Felia. How sensible to have had
36:57a mess. How sensible, for it was the
37:00right, the soul drink, to have under the
37:02circumstances.
37:03Moreover, he had not only proved to
37:05himself he was not afraid of it, he was
37:07now fully awake, fully sober again, and
37:10well able to cope with anything that
37:11might come his way. But for this slight
37:15continual twitching and hopping within
37:17his field of vision as of innumerable
37:20sand fleas, he might have told himself
37:22he hadn't had a drink for months.
37:26The only thing wrong with him he was too
37:29hot.
37:31Lowry was writing about a defrock
37:33British diplomat in the final stages of
37:35alcoholic disintegration.
37:38He was also writing sometimes with good
37:40humor about hell.
37:46But look here, hang it all. It is not
37:48altogether darkness.
37:50You misunderstand me if you think it is
37:53altogether darkness, I see. And if you
37:56insist on thinking so, how can I tell
37:58you why I do it?
38:01But if you look at that sunlight there,
38:04then perhaps you'll get the answer. See,
38:06look. Look at the way it falls through
38:08the window.
38:11What beauty can compare to that of a
38:13cantina in the early morning? Not even
38:16the gates of heaven opening wide to
38:19receive me could fill me with such
38:21celestial, complicated, and hopeless joy
38:25as the iron screen that rolls up with a
38:28crash.
38:29I never saw him without sight, you know,
38:31as he wrote in his book.
38:33All mystery, all hope, all
38:35disappointment, yes, all disaster is
38:37here beyond those swinging doors.
38:40And by the way, do you see that old
38:43woman from Terrasco's sitting in the
38:46corner? How, unless you drink as I do,
38:49can you hope to understand the beauty of
38:51an old woman from Terrasco who plays
38:53dominoes at 7:00 in the morning?
38:58Ah, a woman could not know the perils,
39:00the complications, yes, the importance
39:04of a drunkard's life.
39:10And then we went on the town and the one
39:12drink became five became 10,
39:17you know, little competit.
39:18Lowry's old friend and fellow writer
39:20Arthur Calder Marshall brought his wife
39:22to Mexico to meet Malcolm.
39:25And I think it was what 3 days later
39:28that uh we were rung before breakfast
39:31and told by Jan that Mark hadn't come
39:35home. and she said, "No, I don't care
39:38about him, but he's taken the alarm
39:41clock out and he's drinking the alarm
39:42clock, and I'll have to go into Mexico
39:44City to get another alarm clock, and I
39:46cannot stand that." And now when uh Jan
39:50said, "But why did you take the alarm
39:52clock?" Mark said, "How should I know
39:56when not to stop working without an
40:00alarm clock?
40:05[Music]
40:07the console.
40:08An inconceivable anguish of horriating
40:12hangover, thunderclapping about his
40:14skull, and accompanied by a protective
40:17screen of demons nattering in his ears,
40:19became aware that in the horrid event of
40:22his being observed by his neighbors, it
40:24could hardly be supposed he was just
40:26sauntering down his garden with some
40:28innocent horty cultural object in view.
40:32Not even that he was sauntering.
40:36In vain he tried to check himself,
40:39plunging his hands with an extraordinary
40:41attempt at nonulence in which he hoped
40:43might appear more than a hint of
40:45consular majesty deeper into the sweat
40:48soaked pockets of his dressed trousers.
40:53[Music]
40:58The day before him stretched out like an
41:00illimitable rolling wonderful desert in
41:03which one was going, though in a
41:04delightful way to be lost.
41:08And where now he was drawn on
41:10beautifully by the dissolving miages
41:13past the skeletons like frozen wire and
41:16the wandering dreaming lions towards
41:20inelectable personal disaster.
41:24Always in a delightful way, of course.
41:31She had a story she told us that night
41:34about his courtship uh in Granada.
41:38And she said that one evening he took
41:41her for a walk in the garden of the
41:44Henriol.
41:46And now he suddenly fell on top of her.
41:49he lurched uh and lay on top of her and
41:54she was ready
41:56for a fate not worse than death. And he
42:00then told her the plot of Ultramarine
42:03from beginning to end and they then went
42:05home.
42:08I think she was very fond of him.
42:13I don't think you know physically it was
42:16all that cop because you know he got so
42:20drunk
42:21that think she was a bit worried.
42:25He might have been uh you know drink
42:27made him a bit impotent. She never
42:30actually said that, but one could gather
42:32it.
42:33Otherwise, why did she hop off with,
42:36you know, various chaps?
42:42If Jan Gabriel hopped off with various
42:44chaps, she had good reason. Lowry
42:47sometimes seemed to throw her at other
42:49men, and so he applied his talent to yet
42:52another facet of himself, the cuckolded
42:54husband.
42:56Was
42:58it here he had been betrayed? This very
43:01room perhaps it be filled with her cries
43:03of love.
43:05But the abominable impact on his whole
43:07being at this moment of the fact that
43:08that hideously elongated cucumapform
43:12bundle of blue nerves and gills below
43:14the steaming unself-conscious stomach
43:17had sought its pleasure in his wife's
43:19body, brought him trembling to his feet.
43:24How loathsome,
43:26how incredibly loathsome was reality.
43:32It won't be long before he realizes he's
43:34only one of the hundred or so other nin
43:36hammers with gills like codfish and
43:38veins like raceh horses, prime as goats,
43:40all of them hot as monkeys, salt as
43:42wolves in pride.
43:45What an uncommon time you two must have
43:46had. Paddling palms and playing boobies
43:49and titties all day under cover of
43:51saving me. Jesus. Poor little
43:54defenseless me. I've got my own piddling
43:58little fight for freedom on my hands.
44:01Mommy,
44:02let me go back to that beautiful
44:04brothel.
44:06[Music]
44:12God, is it possible to suffer more than
44:15this?
44:16Out of this suffering, something must be
44:18born.
44:20And what would be born was his own
44:22death. For a how alike are the groans of
44:27love to those of the dying.
44:30How alike those of love to those of the
44:33dying.
44:37[Music]
44:41Jan Gabriel finally ran off forever with
44:43a man from Santa Barbara. And Lowry was
44:46left alone in a town he described as
44:48having 400 swimming pools, 18 churches,
44:51and 57 cantinas. Those small Mexican
44:54drinking places, which did not open
44:56until noon. Now, where I found Lowi was
45:01in a damn grocery store because at that
45:03time, one didn't go to cantinas either.
45:05I mean, it was just too expensive for
45:06me. And at that 9:00 in the morning, the
45:09cantinas weren't open. And these grocery
45:11stores were sort of plantestine places,
45:14you know.
45:16I think he found it beautiful here
45:18because all alcoholics look for the hell
45:20and when they find it, this is the place
45:21to go. Why go further?
45:25Mexico itself.
45:28Well, I think he personally found his
45:30place there at that time. I
45:33mean, you sort of search out a place
45:34which will become your your private
45:36helm.
45:37The crummiest, you know, you find this
45:38crummy place and that's it. Why? Now
45:41I've found it. I'm in hell. What more
45:44can God give me? No.
45:46[Music]
45:52The entire landscape for Lowry was now
45:55monstrous, and even letters to his
45:57friends were more like cries from the
45:59heart.
46:03To John Davenport, 1936.
46:07No words exist to describe the terrible
46:09condition I am in. I have since being
46:12here been in prison three times.
46:16Everywhere I go, I am pursued. And even
46:18now, as I write, no less than five
46:20policemen are watching me.
46:24For obvious and oblivious reasons, I
46:26cannot write to my family. For reasons
46:29so obvious that they're almost naked, I
46:32may not write to my wife.
46:35I looked around in the black recesses of
46:37what used to be a mine and saw two
46:39friends, yourself and Arthur called a
46:42marshall.
46:44I also saw something else not so
46:46friendly.
46:47Imminent insanity.
46:51Another complication is that never in my
46:53whole life have I been to a place so
46:56fantastically beautiful as this. And in
46:59spite of it all, it would be difficult
47:00for me to leave.
47:03The people are lovely, gentle, polite,
47:05passionate, profound, and true.
47:12[Music]
47:14Like Columbus, I've torn through one
47:16reality and discovered another. But like
47:19Columbus also, I thought Cuba was on the
47:22mainland, and it was not.
47:24And like Columbus also, it is possible
47:27I'm leaving a heritage of destruction.
47:30I'm not at all sure about this, but in a
47:33Mexican prison, you have to drink out of
47:34a piss pot sometimes, especially when
47:37you have no passport.
47:41Part of this, of course, is imaginary as
47:43usual, but for once, it is not as
47:45imaginary as usual. In fact, danger both
47:49to mind and body threatens from all
47:51sides.
47:53This is not the cry of the boy who cried
47:55wolf. It is the wolf itself who cries
47:58for help.
48:01It is impossible to say that this is
48:03less of a cry than a howl. What is
48:06impossible is to eat, sleep, work, and I
48:10fear it may rapidly be becoming
48:12impossible also to live.
48:16I cannot even remotely imagine that I'm
48:18writing these terrible words.
48:21But here I am, and outside is the sun,
48:24and inside God only knows, and he is
48:27already refused.
48:31I cannot see Jan now, but for God's
48:34sake, see, she's all right.
48:36I foresaw my fate too deeply to involve
48:38her in it.
48:46Yeah,
48:49[Music]
49:11this performance.
49:19In the summer of 1938, Malcolm Lowry
49:22left Mexico under somewhat mysterious
49:24circumstances.
49:26He had spent at least one Christmas in
49:28prison, and perhaps he was deported as
49:30an undesirable alien.
49:33Possibly his father thought young
49:34Malcolm should continue his
49:36disintegration closer to a Methodist
49:38church.
49:40Or maybe Lowry made one of his rare
49:42independent decisions.
49:44At any rate, after 20 months in Mexico,
49:47Lowry departed, carrying little with him
49:50but an unfinished novel.
50:00Lowry was placed by his family in a
50:02small Los Angeles hotel.
50:04As checks from his father were remitted
50:06directly to the hotel management, he was
50:08virtually a prisoner.
50:12He spent a year expanding his novel. His
50:15brothers still worked for the family
50:16firm.
50:18He was a remittance man.
50:22Was there any resentment amongst the
50:24family against him for that?
50:25None at all. No, no, no, no, no. and he
50:28used to write um
50:31he was forever making trouble you know
50:32and there used to be great meetings used
50:34to go on for old Stewart to be called
50:36into father's office and we wanted to
50:37get in there to get some letters signed
50:39and one couldn't get on with life
50:40because Malcolm was in the way
50:43and um oh father was paying Malcolm more
50:47to stay out of the country than he was
50:48paying me to work like a slave in the
50:50office
50:52in August 1939 Lowry's father suddenly
50:55ordered his son to head further North.
50:58Lowry didn't even bother to pack his
51:00manuscript. The move was described as
51:03temporary. It would last for 14 years.
51:07[Music]
51:10Suppose you land in Vancouver. It has a
51:13sort of pango pangle quality mingled
51:15with sausage and mash and generally a
51:17rather Puritan atmosphere.
51:20Everyone is fast asleep and when you
51:22prick them, a Union Jack flows out of
51:24the hole.
51:26But no one in a certain sense lives
51:28there. They merely as it were pass
51:30through, mine the country and quit,
51:33blast the land to pieces, knock down the
51:36trees, and send them rolling down Barad
51:38Inlet.
51:40As for drinking, by the way, that is
51:42beset everywhere beset by perhaps
51:45favorable difficulties. No bars, only
51:48beer parlors so uncomfortable and cold
51:52that serve beer so weak no
51:54self-respecting drunker would show his
51:56nose in them. You have to drink at home,
51:58and when you run short, it's too far to
52:01get a bottle.
52:03With the Second World War about to break
52:05out, Lowry's father must have thought he
52:07would be safer under the British flag
52:10and transferred his allowance to a
52:11Vancouver lawyer.
52:13Without his manuscript to work on, he
52:16tried hard to overcome the difficulties
52:17of drinking in the Dominion.
52:20On top of everything else, he was once
52:22again in love.
52:24While in Hollywood, he had been
52:26introduced to a former starlet, Marjorie
52:28Bonner. It was love at first sight.
52:34And this man got off the bus and walked
52:36over and put his arms around me and
52:38said, "Marjorie." And I said, "Malcolm."
52:41So by the time Jack King got off the bus
52:43to introduce us there, we were standing
52:45on the corner of Hollywood and Western
52:47with our arms around each other and
52:50that's how we met.
52:52Now she joined him in a small attic room
52:54in Vancouver, bringing with her the
52:56manuscript of Under the Volcano.
53:00The Second World War had broken out.
53:03Although Lowry was not enthusiastic, he
53:05made a desolate attempt to enlist in the
53:07army. He was rejected. He was
53:10desperately short of money and he looked
53:12for other sources of revenue. He found
53:15one in John Bucken, a fellow writer, now
53:18Lord Tweedsmir, Governor General of
53:21Canada.
53:25Well, we were very poor of course and um
53:30Malcolm wrote John Buck and Lord Tweets
53:33Mor
53:35as one writer to another to try and help
53:37him out.
53:39So, Lord Tweedsmore wrote him a very
53:41nice letter
53:43and sent him a check and an introduction
53:47to the editor of the um Vancouver
53:51Province, I think it was. And Mel wrote
53:54a few articles for them. Wasn't easy for
53:57him. He wasn't a reporter, but it made
54:00us a little money, which helped some.
54:03While Marjorie searched for a cheap
54:05country cottage, Lowry reworked his
54:07novel from beginning to end. After 10
54:10months, he sent it off to a New York
54:11agent.
54:14Dear Malcolm, I have regretfully come to
54:17the conclusion that I'm not going to
54:18find a publisher for Under the Volcano.
54:21It has been rejected by Farah and
54:22Reinhardt, Hardcore Brace, Hton Mifflin,
54:25Alfred Knop, JB Lutenot, Little Brown,
54:28Random House, Scribers, Simon and
54:31Schustster, Story Press. I'm sorry that
54:33I wasn't successful in placing it for
54:35you and am holding the script here for
54:37your instructions.
54:40Dear Hal, I'm sorry I've only given you
54:42further disappointment with Under the
54:44Volcano so far. And it may be that the
54:47adverse conditions under which the book
54:49was finally written influenced me to
54:51think it was an artistic triumph when it
54:53was only a sort of moral one. So I am
54:56rewriting it. I think it foolish to
54:58embark on an absolutely new project at
55:00this time.
55:06Lowry lay in bed for 4 days without
55:09eating, sleeping, speaking, or even
55:11drinking.
55:13Then he rose and looked out at his new
55:15surroundings.
55:22The Lowries had moved only 10 miles, but
55:24they had escaped the hated city.
55:27They now lived in one of the squatter
55:29shacks on the shores of Bard inlet near
55:32the village of Dollarton.
55:35Lowry built himself a pier. It was
55:38awkward and flimsy, but to everyone's
55:40surprise, it withstood the gales and
55:42tides, and towards it, Lowry developed a
55:45particular affection. This frail thing
55:48that could endure the storms of the
55:50world.
55:56the Shell refinery. You can see the uh
55:59the buildings over there in the
56:01distance. There used to be a very large
56:03uh sign in Lights Shell of which the S
56:08had been burned out. And so at night,
56:10this great huge sign, hell, would uh
56:14would shine through the darkness,
56:15through the mist from the refinery, uh
56:17with the flashing lights of the burning,
56:19whatever was going on there. And Malcolm
56:21very frequently used to refer to that
56:24refinery as hell or the city of de. Uh
56:27it was always a source of uh joy to him
56:29to uh look out of this paradise into the
56:34civilized part of the world which for
56:36him was hell.
56:40And one night was looking out of the
56:42window and he said, "Oh twilight,
56:46it's such a sad time of day, isn't it?"
56:50And I turned to him and I said,
56:51"Malcolm, listen to me. Look at me.
56:54You'll never have to be lonely or sad
56:56again. Twilight will be a happy time.
56:58We'll pull the curtains and light the
57:00lamps and be from the dark night
57:02withdrawn together."
57:04And oh, he threw his arms around me. And
57:07ever after that, he insisted on cleaning
57:09the lamps and oiling them and filling
57:11them and lighting them at twilight. It
57:13was a big ceremony.
57:16Unlike Jan Gabriel, Marjorie was willing
57:19to function both as a wife and a mother.
57:22She watched over her manchild as he
57:24stood writing for 12 hours at a stretch,
57:26his legs developing varicose veins, his
57:29small hands pressed so hard against the
57:31table that they developed ape-like pads.
57:35If he occasionally fell into a bottle of
57:37gin, he would pick himself up in the
57:39morning, dredge up the dreadful memories
57:41of Mexico, and try again to write it all
57:44down.
57:50[Music]
57:57The van struck up Guadlahara again in
58:00the wind, and the bull bellowed, his
58:03horns caught in the railings through
58:04which helpless he was being poked with
58:06sticks in what remained of his
58:08testicles, tickled with switches, a
58:11machete, and after getting clear and
58:13reentangled, a garden rake, dust, too,
58:17and dung was thrown in his red eyes. And
58:20now there seemed no end to this childish
58:22cruelty.
58:25Mexico was not laughing away her tragic
58:27history.
58:28Mexico was bored. The bull was bored.
58:32Everyone was bored. Perhaps had been all
58:36the time.
58:38As amid boredom, the bull circled the
58:40arena, and boredom he now finally sat
58:43down in a corner of it.
58:46It was a tiresome and odious spectacle
58:48really. The only people happy were the
58:51drunks.
58:53Gripping tequila or mscal bottles. They
58:56tottered into the rain.
58:59[Music]
59:02Yes. It struck her now that this whole
59:03business of the bull was like a life.
59:06The important birth, the fair chance,
59:08the tentative then assured then half
59:10desparing circulation of the ring. An
59:13obstacle negotiated. A feat improperly
59:16recognized. boredom, resignation,
59:19collapse.
59:21Then another more convulsive birth, a
59:24new start. The circumspect endeavors to
59:27obtain one's bearings in a world now
59:29frankly hostile, followed by disaster,
59:33capitulation,
59:34disintegration.
59:35[Music]
59:41Yes. Then when he had reached a certain
59:43place, the end of a chapter or a scene
59:45or something, he would give me the
59:48script and I would type it for him and
59:51then I would uh write out I would read
59:54it over carefully and write out my
59:56comments on it and then he would read it
59:58over and write out his comments on it
1:00:00and then we would sit down and have a
1:00:02big discussion. And of course sometimes
1:00:04he would scream and say, "Oh, you've cut
1:00:06out the best thing I ever wrote in my
1:00:08life. It's bleeding. It's awful." And
1:00:11then he'd come down and then he'd read
1:00:13me what he thought about it and I'd say
1:00:15what I thought. And in the end he'd
1:00:17usually shake his head and say, "Well,
1:00:19you were right. Yes, I went on to a long
1:00:21dissertation. It needs cutting."
1:00:26On the morning of June 7th, 1944, Lowry
1:00:29shack burst into flame.
1:00:33Inside was the fourth draft of Under the
1:00:35Volcano.
1:00:44We didn't get any furniture, anything
1:00:46out. I rescued the volcano.
1:00:49What was what was Mountain's immediate
1:00:52reaction to that? Was it one of
1:00:54heartbreak or
1:00:54Oh, he went to pieces. He'd stop people
1:00:57on the street for a year afterwards and
1:00:59say, "My house burnt down. Do you
1:01:00realize my house burnt down?" He was in
1:01:03terrible shape. Even when we were in
1:01:05Haiti, he was stopping people and
1:01:06saying, "My house burned down." He went
1:01:08into a state of shock.
1:01:17Lowry would return to rebuild his shack,
1:01:19but now he took his charred manuscript
1:01:21to Niagara on the Lake where he worked
1:01:24through the winter.
1:01:28On the 6th of June 1945,
1:01:31after 8 years of writing, he once again
1:01:34sent his manuscript to a New York agent.
1:01:38Of course, it may not be any good at
1:01:40all. 5 years ago, I deceived myself into
1:01:43thinking I'd pulled it off as as, of
1:01:45course, I had not done. However, I feel
1:01:48now it may be a pretty good job, and
1:01:50myself justified in sending it to you,
1:01:52since my impression is that the majority
1:01:54of its faults in the older version have
1:01:56been done away with.
1:01:59[Music]
1:02:05Now he returned to the volcano itself
1:02:08and he was afraid. He was always afraid
1:02:11of immigration officers. He was
1:02:13definitely a man to be denounced at
1:02:14borders.
1:02:17He saw himself as a man who had failed
1:02:19at everything. He had failed to support
1:02:21his wife, to fight in wars. He had let
1:02:24his house burn down.
1:02:26Now he was afraid of being taken over by
1:02:28his own fiction.
1:02:31What he noted in his diary, what if he
1:02:33were coming back to Mexico not to assert
1:02:35his own rejuvenation, but to seek the
1:02:38death that had eluded him there 8 years
1:02:40before.
1:02:42Lowry showed Marjorie the scenes of the
1:02:44novel while he waited with a gathering
1:02:47desperation for some word about his
1:02:49book.
1:02:50He was devastated when a book on
1:02:52alcoholism, The Lost Weekend, became a
1:02:55smash bestseller.
1:02:57Dear old Conrad, my novel, The Volcano,
1:03:01seems to have gone smack into the void.
1:03:04No intelligent comment so far or
1:03:06encouragement. I think it is really
1:03:08good, though the Lost Weekend may have
1:03:12deprived it of some of its impact. A
1:03:15lack prosaic justice.
1:03:20[Music]
1:03:33One of the publishers to receive the
1:03:35manuscript was The Great British House
1:03:37of Jonathan Cape. These were the people
1:03:40who had published his first novel 13
1:03:42years before, but they had quite
1:03:44forgotten about Malcolm Lowry.
1:03:47I'd hate to have the responsibility of
1:03:49reading that novel by an unknown man
1:03:52when that came onto my desk along with
1:03:5410 other pieces of rubbish. What
1:03:57happened is when originally it was sent
1:03:59in uh we got a reader's report on it by
1:04:02a then uh resident reader a man called
1:04:05William Plumemer poet who died about a
1:04:08year ago and he wrote a report on the
1:04:10book and Jonathan Cape sent a copy of
1:04:15the report to Larry and he wrote to
1:04:18Larry and said I'd like to publish your
1:04:20book uh if you undertake to try to
1:04:23correct some of the things pointed out
1:04:25some of the faults pointed out in this
1:04:26report. We definitely guarantee to do
1:04:28it. If you don't, we might still publish
1:04:31it, but I'd be interested in your view.
1:04:34Now, this brought forth perhaps one of
1:04:37the most extraordinary letters, perhaps
1:04:38the greatest letter I've ever seen by an
1:04:40author, which was a full exposition of
1:04:43the meaning and intention of that book.
1:04:47Dear Mr. Cape, thank you very much
1:04:49indeed for yours of the 29th November,
1:04:52which did not reach me, however, until
1:04:54New Year's Eve. There are a thousand
1:04:56writers who can draw adequate characters
1:04:58till all is blue for one who can tell
1:05:00you anything new about hellfire.
1:05:03And I'm telling you something new about
1:05:05hellfire.
1:05:06Chapter 12. I have scarcely changed it
1:05:09since 1940, though I made some slight
1:05:12additions and subtractions in 1942 and
1:05:15substituted the passage uh quote, "How
1:05:18alike are the groans of love to the
1:05:20groans of the dying end of quote, etc."
1:05:23in 1944 for another one not so good.
1:05:27I do think it deserves this chapter is
1:05:29an almost biblical one. Hasn't the guy
1:05:32had enough suffering? Surely we've
1:05:34reached the end now. But no,
1:05:37apparently it's only when you get to the
1:05:39end. If you have read carefully, you
1:05:41should want to turn back to the
1:05:42beginning again, where it is not
1:05:44impossible to that your eye might align
1:05:46once more upon Sophocles's wonders are
1:05:49many, and none is more wonderful than
1:05:51man. just to cheer you up.
1:05:55And I may say that Jonathan's answer to
1:05:57that was an immediate offer of a
1:05:59contract.
1:06:01Dear Mr. Cape, you will have my proof
1:06:04soon. We are wallowing in success.
1:06:07Feeling in fact like starving men whose
1:06:09eyes are being stuffed with potatoes.
1:06:12Ever sincerely yours, Malcolm Larry.
1:06:16The same day, the great American editor
1:06:19Albert Erskin, who would handle William
1:06:21Falner, John O'Hara, and James Mittner
1:06:24decided with his colleagues at Rainol
1:06:26Hitchcock that they would publish the
1:06:28book. On the day of publication, Lowry
1:06:31arrived in New York.
1:06:33No, it was a it was a cold and ugly day
1:06:36and everything seemed to u be a little
1:06:40bit off key to me for some reason. I
1:06:42don't know.
1:06:43I I don't know whether he'd been
1:06:44drinking already or not. And I went to
1:06:46meet them at the Greyhound bus station.
1:06:50Took them to their hotel.
1:06:52Did you meet what you
1:06:54immediately to the bar?
1:06:56Did you Did you meet what you expected
1:06:58to meet or was it a surprise?
1:07:00It was a surprise.
1:07:03Now quavering they asked, "What are the
1:07:06reviews like?" And Albert just said,
1:07:09"There's never been anything like them."
1:07:10And there never had been. Nobody had
1:07:12ever had such reviews and it just about
1:07:14knocked him out. He couldn't believe it.
1:07:17That was the thing that's been told over
1:07:19and over again about
1:07:22Marjgery and me looking for him in bars
1:07:25and finally finding him in one on
1:07:26Lexington having exhausted Third Avenue.
1:07:31And he walked in while we were there and
1:07:33said, "You know, I knew you'd be here."
1:07:38which was
1:07:39Were you aware of his drinking
1:07:41propensities uh before you met him?
1:07:44I assumed from the book that he had had
1:07:46some experience, but I thought that
1:07:49maybe he'd stopped. The book seems to
1:07:52disapprove of it.
1:07:53The book was soon out in 15 languages.
1:07:56The Germans called it a masterpiece. The
1:07:59French called it the greatest book since
1:08:01Ulyses. Tokyo's Mayanichi Shimun said it
1:08:05belongs to the centuries.
1:08:08From the prestigious journals of the
1:08:09English-speaking world came
1:08:11unprecedented critical acclaim.
1:08:13If there is morbidity here, it is akin
1:08:16to that of Elizabeth and tragedy, born
1:08:19of an involved and passionate interest
1:08:21in the secrets of the fall of man. So
1:08:24strong is the light which the author
1:08:25directs on the central character that
1:08:28the shadow it cast is one of tragic
1:08:30dimensions.
1:08:31I have never before used this word in a
1:08:33review, but I'm of the opinion that
1:08:35Under the Volcano is a work of genius.
1:08:38Hounded by so many absurd calamities,
1:08:40Lowry bequeafd us many courageous
1:08:43efforts and one magnificent achievement
1:08:46under the volcano may have cost him
1:08:48everything. If so, it was no waste.
1:08:54And of course, everybody wanted to give
1:08:56parties for him, and he just fell apart.
1:08:58He couldn't stand it. He got drunk.
1:09:04He backed against the wall like a
1:09:06treated animal
1:09:08and just stood there in a sort of stuper
1:09:12and said, "What do you do?" "Yes, thank
1:09:16you
1:09:19and looked like a trapped animal."
1:09:25The Lowry's returned to Dollarton where
1:09:27his pier was still standing.
1:09:30There was some confusion whether he was
1:09:31a British or a Canadian writer and both
1:09:34sides lay claim to him.
1:09:36It is rather discouraging very often
1:09:38being a writer in Canada. Somebody put
1:09:41the volcano in the Encyclopedia Botanica
1:09:43yearbook 1948-49 ranking it as the work
1:09:46of a Canadian over and above anything
1:09:48then current in American literature. But
1:09:51not one word did I ever hear of that
1:09:53here. All I've ever heard was from my
1:09:56royalty report, namely that the sales in
1:09:59Canada from the end of 1947-49
1:10:02were precisely two copies. The Sun
1:10:05published only a few syndicated lines
1:10:07that called it a turgid novel full of
1:10:10self-destruction, not for the discerning
1:10:13or something reader.
1:10:16Lowry was exaggerating.
1:10:18Although he was certainly not a
1:10:19household name in Canada, there was a
1:10:21band of disciples gathering around the
1:10:23resident genius. The Lowry legend began
1:10:26to take shape.
1:10:29So one night
1:10:32the liquor was all gone. I guess Malcolm
1:10:34had had he was drunk, but he said, "Now
1:10:37I am going to do to be Christ.
1:10:41I'm going to change water to wine."
1:10:46And he was so convinced, he was very
1:10:48convincing and he had me convinced
1:10:51during this time that he was able to do
1:10:53this. You see this is what he he was his
1:10:56charisma was so great that he could
1:10:59really spell binds you. So he went out
1:11:01to the kitchen tap and he turned the tap
1:11:04on and he said, "This is wine. Drink
1:11:07it." Gave it to me and I'll swear it was
1:11:09wine. That was just that was the kind of
1:11:12influence he had on you at that time. He
1:11:15had you believing you were drinking
1:11:16wine.
1:11:17Really did. He really had.
1:11:18You couldn't swear you weren't.
1:11:21And he believed it. So
1:11:22he did too. This was the whole
1:11:23He had to cuz the only thing there was
1:11:25to drink in the house
1:11:26was was the was water of the tab.
1:11:30Lowry was supposed to be writing books.
1:11:33They were waiting in London and New York
1:11:36and Lowry was stalling for time.
1:11:39Among the work in progress was something
1:11:41called October Ferry to Gabriola.
1:11:44Whenever Lowry could stall no longer, it
1:11:46went to New York in fragments.
1:11:51Malcolm would I think we had given
1:11:53$3,600 advance payable $100 a month over
1:11:57three years.
1:11:59But that when
1:12:02but that it could be cut off if uh the
1:12:05book didn't seem to be going well. And I
1:12:08knew that as soon as Bob Hos read any of
1:12:10this
1:12:12October Ferry that the money was going
1:12:14to be cut off. So I didn't tell him I
1:12:16had it.
1:12:18I found it just tedious as anything I've
1:12:21ever read.
1:12:23And coming after the other book, I
1:12:25couldn't understand it.
1:12:28He was desperately afraid of being a
1:12:30one-shot novelist and tried to keep
1:12:32working, but his publishers finally cut
1:12:35him off.
1:12:37My dear Albert, I hate to break a long
1:12:40silence in this way, but can you somehow
1:12:42lend us $200 immediately? I was always
1:12:46taught to begin a short story like this.
1:12:51It may interest you to know that there
1:12:52is a long broadcast tonight or tomorrow
1:12:55night on the subject of Malcolm Lowry,
1:12:58Canada's Raiders's most successful
1:13:00writer, which we can't listen to because
1:13:02our radio has run down and we can't
1:13:05afford to replenish the battery. The
1:13:08unkindest cut of all.
1:13:13Gradually, the legend disintegrated. He
1:13:16had become a repulsive drunk. When
1:13:18everything else ran out, he drank after
1:13:21shave lotion.
1:13:23Earl Bernie, the poet, kicked him out.
1:13:25Downey Kirk, the school teacher, kicked
1:13:27him out.
1:13:30Dear Downey, this is a letter of thanks
1:13:32to you and your wife for a wonderful
1:13:34evening, but also a letter of apology.
1:13:37So, it's addressed to you alone since I
1:13:39do not feel even worthy of addressing
1:13:41your wife at the moment. I am told I use
1:13:44bad language in front of your wife and
1:13:45Dorothy. This is utterly inexcusable. Of
1:13:48course, I'm deeply sorry. Sincerely,
1:13:52Malcolm.
1:13:55Um, I've always felt that Marjorie had
1:13:58had enough, and I don't blame her. She
1:14:00had It was a very cramped little place,
1:14:02and who am I to blame her for goodness
1:14:04sake? But, um, it was a pretty dead kind
1:14:07of life. And uh she she's a beautiful
1:14:11she was a beautiful woman and lively and
1:14:13I think she wanted a larger scene and uh
1:14:17and I think there was a there was such a
1:14:19basic love and trust between them that
1:14:21if she wanted that and wanted it badly
1:14:23enough he would uh do what she wanted.
1:14:28His only friends now were the old
1:14:29originals Sam the fisherman, Jimmy
1:14:32Craig, Harvey Bert. And uh the last time
1:14:37I saw Malcolm in Vancouver was with old
1:14:40Jim Craig. Old Jim had walked as far
1:14:42down the the uh hallway leading to the
1:14:45plane as he could. And uh uh Malcolm
1:14:48turned just before they disappeared
1:14:50through the last door and he he clung to
1:14:52old Jim and oh he was he almost swamp
1:14:56surrounded old Jim but he just stood
1:14:57there and it seemed to me the longest
1:15:00time I heard them say nothing at all but
1:15:02just that uh that clinging of a child to
1:15:05its its last parent its last support and
1:15:08then he was whisked away and uh and
1:15:11disappeared and Jimmy never saw him
1:15:13again.
1:15:18[Music]
1:15:35Success is like some horrible disaster.
1:15:39Worse than your house burning. The
1:15:42sounds of ruination as the roof tree
1:15:44falls, following each other faster while
1:15:47you stand. The helpless witness of your
1:15:50damnation.
1:15:52[Music]
1:15:53Fame like a drunkard consumes the house
1:15:56of the soul, exposing that you have
1:15:59worked for only this.
1:16:02Ah, that I never suffered this
1:16:03treacherous kiss and had been left in
1:16:06darkness forever to found her and fail.
1:16:15It'll break your heart.
1:16:19I don't I don't get it.
1:16:22What do you find so sad about it?
1:16:28Well,
1:16:30the idea of such a talented man going so
1:16:33wrong, I'm sorry to get sentimental, but
1:16:36I always do and I always will. It's a
1:16:40beautiful book and it's the writing is
1:16:43so tremendous that I would say it
1:16:46compares with Conrad or any of those.
1:16:50But my god,
1:16:53here's a guy that just
1:16:56he could cope as long as he was drunk.
1:17:00The minute he got sober, he couldn't
1:17:03cope with anything.
1:17:06And it made me sad. He couldn't get his
1:17:10ass into gear.
1:17:13There were other admirers of Lowry of
1:17:15great academic distinction.
1:17:1820 years later, there would be four
1:17:20full-fledged biographies and 147 doctal
1:17:23thesis, dealing with the most arcane
1:17:26aspects of the man and his work. It's
1:17:28very difficult to date and I've come
1:17:30across 10 drafts so far but I would
1:17:33guess that
1:17:34he could become very frustrated because
1:17:36his determination was short-lived and
1:17:39we're finding this from his lower loops
1:17:42which are you're going to find in Y's in
1:17:45G's and they're very they're made just
1:17:49barely and this also uh
1:17:51and it is in fact I would say a
1:17:55precursor of the French nuvo
1:18:00and professor day of course is a
1:18:02professor of comparative literature. I'm
1:18:05I'm not suggesting he doesn't know the
1:18:07nuvo but still he has not made this
1:18:10comparison and I think he ought to do
1:18:12so.
1:18:15Yes, it's rather fun. We don't get many
1:18:19visitors here in the ordinary course of
1:18:20events because we're rather out feed
1:18:23trap but in the summer people come out
1:18:25from Brighton and Eastborne. nice place
1:18:27to ride out with the family and walk.
1:18:30And then you get one or two who you know
1:18:32have come from good few thousand miles
1:18:35further sometimes and you see lurking in
1:18:37the background a sort of PhD thesis
1:18:40that's beginning to form and I say aha
1:18:42Lowry to myself and they say to me Larry
1:18:44and I say yes and I show them where the
1:18:47grave is and
1:18:49it is the the satire the grotesques the
1:18:54way that the kind of landscape of the in
1:18:59in under the volcano. I mean it's
1:19:01physical. It has a sort of physical
1:19:03presence but at the same time the very
1:19:04precise comments
1:19:07the outside world fighting China Japan
1:19:10China the fighting Spanish civil war
1:19:12what he's actually seen is is the land
1:19:14exploding. He's seen the volcanoes going
1:19:16off. The volcanoes are dead no longer.
1:19:25Now he smiled for snapshots in front of
1:19:28monuments and carted with him thousands
1:19:31of pages of work that he was ashamed to
1:19:33show to the rest of the world.
1:19:36Nor was he spared the ultimate
1:19:38emasculation of the writer.
1:19:41I have now reached a position where
1:19:44every night I write five novels in
1:19:46imagination
1:19:48but am unable to write a word. I cannot
1:19:51explain in human terms the incredible
1:19:53effort it has cost me to write even this
1:19:55silly little note. And now the rain. Let
1:20:00it come. The wind is rising too, both on
1:20:04the ocean and in the stomach.
1:20:08You could see the sthing
1:20:12intensity of the man under certain
1:20:14circumstances when he he wanted to say
1:20:16something or write something and he
1:20:18couldn't get anything out. He can
1:20:18neither say it nor write it.
1:20:21He wanted once to to inscribe a book to
1:20:24me. I remember when he was on under the
1:20:26weather and he he just couldn't get his
1:20:29name down and he was absolutely rigid
1:20:32with fury at himself
1:20:36and I think it was always at himself.
1:20:44In the spring of 1955, he returned at
1:20:47last to England. Much of his time was
1:20:50spent in mental hospitals. There was
1:20:52some question of a labbotomy, which
1:20:55would remove part of his brain and
1:20:56reduce him to a vegetable, but this was
1:20:59stopped.
1:21:00All he had was an operation for piles,
1:21:03and he was occasionally well enough to
1:21:05join his old friend Bob PCO, a radio
1:21:08producer, in a nearby pub.
1:21:11And suddenly he said cut across my
1:21:14conversation. He said you changed you
1:21:17know you changed.
1:21:19I said good to God Malcav 21 years. I
1:21:23said a lot's happened in that time you
1:21:25know.
1:21:27He said no you've changed. You changed
1:21:30and it became progressively unhappier
1:21:33and unhappier.
1:21:35And so he said oh well I suppose I
1:21:37better go. And he was clutching this
1:21:39copy, this battered copy of under the
1:21:41volcano and showing it to the land lady
1:21:44who couldn't have known Aphim's dead.
1:21:49A distinguished psychiatrist, Dr.
1:21:51Michael Raymond made a last attempt to
1:21:53stop his drinking. Well, in those days
1:21:57um
1:21:59it was it was based entirely on um
1:22:02Pavlovian principles, namely that um
1:22:06with very strict regard to timing, one
1:22:10gave an injection of epomorphine, which
1:22:13one knew perfectly well would produce
1:22:15nors and vomiting
1:22:18um in about 10 minutes, but it varied
1:22:20with the individual. Having done that
1:22:23and having determined what was the Norse
1:22:26time, one then gave alcohol just um
1:22:30before the Norsey ensued. And without
1:22:32any doubt at all, it's relatively easy
1:22:35to produce uh a conditioned aversion to
1:22:39alcohol.
1:22:40[Music]
1:22:47night and once again the nightly grapple
1:22:50with death.
1:22:52The room shaking with demonic
1:22:54orchestras. The snatches of fearful
1:22:57sleep. The voices outside the window. My
1:23:01name being continually repeated with
1:23:04scorn by imaginary parties arriving. The
1:23:06darks spin its as if there were not
1:23:09enough real noises in these nights. The
1:23:12color of gray hair not like the rending
1:23:14tumult of American cities. is the noise
1:23:16of the unbandaging of great giants in
1:23:19agony. But the howling pariah dogs, the
1:23:23[ __ ] that held dawn all night, the
1:23:25drumming, the moaning,
1:23:30[Music]
1:23:38[Music]
1:23:41he distinguished an incredibly filthy
1:23:43man sitting hunched in the corner on a
1:23:45lavatory seat, so short his trousered
1:23:48feet didn't reach the littered, befouled
1:23:50old floor. "You like Maria?" this man
1:23:53croked again. "I send me amigo," he
1:23:57farted. "Kayora" asked the consul,
1:24:00shivering, noticing in the runel a dead
1:24:03scorpion. "What's the time?" "Sick,"
1:24:06answered the man. "No, it half past 6 by
1:24:11the cock." "You mean 6 by the clock?"
1:24:15See Senor half sick by the [ __ ]
1:24:20[Music]
1:24:38The whole insect world had somehow moved
1:24:41nearer, and now was closing, rushing in
1:24:44upon him, a kind of seething from which,
1:24:47as from the persistent rolling of drums
1:24:49heard by some great dying monarch,
1:24:52occasionally a half recognizable voice,
1:24:55disassociated itself.
1:24:57[Music]
1:24:58He had the most enormous mega cola, the
1:25:02lower part of mouth. Absolutely. He uh
1:25:06because of this he he had um a horror uh
1:25:11of um stinking during this uh um
1:25:17aversion treatment which incidentally
1:25:19was only part of the treatment and a
1:25:21fairly minor part of his treatment at
1:25:24Morris. But during this treatment uh we
1:25:27used in those days to withhold fluid.
1:25:30The only fluid that the patient had was
1:25:33alcohol.
1:25:35And during um a lull or at the end of
1:25:38one of these sessions uh he was taken
1:25:40some milk. And now he was very thirsty.
1:25:43But he first used the milk to scrub his
1:25:46fingernails and wash his hands and then
1:25:48he drank. Uh well now um this was
1:25:52perhaps bravado.
1:25:54[Music]
1:25:59The fereralito, he said to himself.
1:26:02The lighthouse.
1:26:05The lighthouse that invites the storm
1:26:06and lights it.
1:26:10It was a strange place. A place really
1:26:13of the late night and early dawn, which
1:26:16as a rule did not open until 4:00 in the
1:26:19morning. But today being the holiday for
1:26:21the dead, it would not close.
1:26:24The proprietor Rammon Dostardo, known as
1:26:28the elephant, who was reputed to have
1:26:30murdered his wife to kill her in
1:26:32Neurosthenia.
1:26:34The beggars, hacked by war and covered
1:26:36with sores, one of whom, one night after
1:26:40four drinks from the consul had taken
1:26:43him for the Christ.
1:26:47[Music]
1:26:54The console, that creature of Malcolm
1:26:57Lowries, spent his last night on earth
1:27:00in the feral.
1:27:02There he found himself surrounded by a
1:27:04group of irritated bureaucrats.
1:27:07This did not surprise the consul as he
1:27:10had always considered himself the chief
1:27:12of sinners.
1:27:15Then Sinabria spoke for the first time.
1:27:18I'm afraid you must come to prison, he
1:27:21said simply in English. The chief of
1:27:24municipality rolled his hips and gripped
1:27:26the consil's arm.
1:27:29You alapon,
1:27:31you are Jew, Chinga,
1:27:34we have found out on the telephone. Is
1:27:37it right that you are a criminal?
1:27:41You want to be a policeman? I make you
1:27:44policeman in Mexico.
1:27:47The chief of Rosms took him by the coat.
1:27:50Someone else seized him from behind.
1:27:53In spite of his struggle, as he was
1:27:55being dragged towards the door. The
1:27:58chief of Rosms was looking down at him.
1:28:01Norte Americano. Eh, said the chief.
1:28:04English, you Jew. He narrowed his eyes.
1:28:09The console, shaking himself free, tore
1:28:12frantically at the horse's bridal. The
1:28:15chief of Rosstrom stepped aside, hand on
1:28:18his holster. He drew his pistol. With
1:28:21his free hand, he waved away some
1:28:23tentative onlookers. "I blow you wide
1:28:26open from your knees up, you cababon,"
1:28:29he said. "You pelad."
1:28:31"No, I I wouldn't do that," said the
1:28:33consul quietly, turning around. "That's
1:28:36a cult 17, isn't it? It throws a lot of
1:28:40steel shavings."
1:28:42The chief of Rostramm pushed the console
1:28:44back out of the light, took two steps
1:28:47forward, and fired.
1:28:51Lightning flashed like an inchworm going
1:28:54down the sky, and the console, reeling,
1:28:59saw above him for a moment the shape of
1:29:01Popakata petal, plumemed with emerald
1:29:04snow and drenched with brilliance.
1:29:08The chief fired twice more.
1:29:12The shots spaced deliberate.
1:29:15Thunderclaps crashed on the mountains
1:29:17and then at hand.
1:29:20Released, the horse reared, tossing its
1:29:23head. It wheeled round and plunged,
1:29:26nighing into the forest.
1:29:30At first, the console felt a queer
1:29:32relief. Now he realized he had been
1:29:35shot.
1:29:37He fell on one knee, then with a groan,
1:29:42flat on his face in the grass.
1:29:45"Christ," he remarked, puzzled.
1:29:49"This is a dingy way to die."
1:29:53A bell spoke out.
1:29:55"Dole,
1:30:00it was raining softly.
1:30:02Shapes hovered by him, holding his hand,
1:30:05perhaps still trying to pick his pockets
1:30:08or to help, or merely curious.
1:30:12He could feel life slivering out of him
1:30:15like liver, ebbing into the tenderness
1:30:18of the grass.
1:30:21He was alone.
1:30:24Where was everybody?
1:30:27Or had there been no one?
1:30:30Suddenly, he screamed,
1:30:34and it was as though this scream were
1:30:36being tossed from one tree to another as
1:30:38its echoes returned.
1:30:42Then, as though the trees themselves
1:30:44were crowding nearer, huddled together,
1:30:46closing over him, pitying,
1:30:50somebody threw a dead dog after him down
1:30:53the ravine.
1:30:54[Music]
1:31:13the village of Rie in the south of
1:31:15England.
1:31:17It was here that Larry and his wife
1:31:19settled in final refuge.
1:31:23[Music]
1:31:26The house was built in 1740.
1:31:30Marjorie is having a wonderful time with
1:31:31the garden, as am I. She planting seeds
1:31:35destined to be glowing holly hawks. I
1:31:38sewing sweet peas, four seeds in each
1:31:40hole, one for the rabbit, one for the
1:31:42cow, one for the field mouse, and one to
1:31:44grow, as they say here.
1:31:46while meanwhile I weed sentences full of
1:31:49contorted louswood which I lay neatly in
1:31:52rows for use later. No doubt
1:31:56he was writing again, rallying whatever
1:31:58forces remained in the full knowledge
1:32:00that after the volcano there might be
1:32:03nothing. His land lady and neighbor was
1:32:06Mrs. Winnie Mason.
1:32:08Used to sit used to sit like that gazing
1:32:11into space. He did a lot of that very
1:32:14often. And you felt he was looking
1:32:16through you. He was looking to something
1:32:18beyond. He knew there was something
1:32:21beyond. If only he could reach it. If
1:32:23only he could attain it.
1:32:26Well, I don't know. No, don't bother.
1:32:32I should have called him a great
1:32:33gentleman to ask.
1:32:37He drank little. Now
1:32:39he would go with Marjorie to Charlie
1:32:40Baker's pub and have a pint of bitter
1:32:43and walk home. Oh yes. And he was always
1:32:46um standing in the hedge. They used to
1:32:49have a hollow tree in right and he'd
1:32:50stand in there for hours.
1:32:53Andy would hang around the churchyard
1:32:54and he always had a grin which everybody
1:32:58thought he was a little bit um you know
1:33:01not quite all there sometimes. I used to
1:33:03wonder what he was up to.
1:33:06He
1:33:06stood sitting the hedro grinning away.
1:33:09Yes. I used to wonder. He would grin if
1:33:11anyone came by. He wasn't he wasn't a
1:33:12man to talk a lot.
1:33:14Uh, no. He'd start you off. You say he'd
1:33:17start you he'd ask you something, you
1:33:18know, he and then he'd start you off and
1:33:21he would say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's
1:33:23see."
1:33:24Yeah.
1:33:25He was a good listener.
1:33:26Oh, yeah. Terrific listener. No wonder
1:33:28he was a good book writer, I should
1:33:30think.
1:33:31All good listeners are good book
1:33:33writers.
1:33:35He took Marjgery to the Lake District,
1:33:38not because it was a land of Wdsworth,
1:33:41but because it reminded him of British
1:33:43Columbia, where he had once been a good
1:33:46bookw writer.
1:33:48Dear Harvey,
1:33:50I'm writing without my glasses, so the
1:33:52contours of this note may be a little
1:33:54arai.
1:33:57Also, I am very tired.
1:34:02I cannot believe our poor pier has been
1:34:04swept away. That pier that gave so much
1:34:07happiness to many and us was us in a
1:34:10sense.
1:34:12We risked our lives building it. Nobody
1:34:15could understand how it survived so
1:34:17long, not even engineers. And it was
1:34:20nicknamed the crazy wonder on the beach.
1:34:24Ramshackle from certain angles though it
1:34:27was. and the handrails purile.
1:34:30But oh, the washing hung out there on
1:34:32the line like great white stationary
1:34:36birds beating their wings against the
1:34:38gale.
1:34:40Margie and I built it together with
1:34:42practically no tools,
1:34:45and I'm brokenhearted. is gone.
1:34:48[Music]
1:34:56Shortly before 7:00 on the 27th of June,
1:35:001957,
1:35:01Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm Lowry walked from
1:35:04the Utree pub to the White Cottage at
1:35:06Ripe, carrying a bottle of gin.
1:35:09[Music]
1:35:18Towards evening,
1:35:21he it was in the bedroom anyhow. He had
1:35:25more than were sufficient and she took
1:35:28the bottle of gin away from him and
1:35:31dashed it against the wall, the far side
1:35:33of the bed. There was the mark for a
1:35:36long time till they had it repaped. Um
1:35:39uh and he went for her with a chair
1:35:43and uh she came into me and she said,
1:35:48"Oh, Winnie, Winnie isn't my real name.
1:35:50It's only my picnic. Winnie, I'm so
1:35:52frightened. Uh Malcolm's
1:35:55had some gin. Could I sleep in here with
1:35:59you tonight?"
1:36:02[Applause]
1:36:03Sometime during the night, Malcolm
1:36:05Lowry, having consumed a half bottle of
1:36:08gin, ate a few morsels of food and
1:36:12swallowed two bottles of barbituate
1:36:14sleeping pills.
1:36:16[Applause]
1:36:18[Music]
1:36:30[Applause]
1:36:32I don't think she slept much all night.
1:36:34Neither did I.
1:36:37And then she dressed and she said,
1:36:39"Well, I suppose I must go get poor old
1:36:41milk, a cup of tea." And she went in,
1:36:45came back very hurriedly. Winnie, he's
1:36:49gone. And I said, "What? Up to
1:36:51Liverpool?" Because that was the last
1:36:53thing. No, she said he's dead.
1:37:02[Music]
1:37:15My secrets are of the grave and must be
1:37:17kept.
1:37:19And this is how I sometimes think of
1:37:21myself as a great explorer who has
1:37:24discovered some extraordinary land from
1:37:26which he can never return to give his
1:37:27knowledge to the world.
1:37:29But the name of this land is hell.
1:37:33It is not Mexico, of course, but in the
1:37:36heart.
1:37:38[Music]
1:37:54[Music]
1:38:09Heat. Heat.
1:38:13[Music]
1:38:17Heat.
1:38:18[Music]
1:38:33Heat.
1:38:35[Music]
1:38:50[Music]
1:39:00Heat. Heat.
1:39:02[Music]

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