Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place

by Malcolm Lowry

Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place, a posthumously published collection of short stories and novellas, is, along with the novel October Ferry to Gabriola, British-born Malcolm Lowry's contribution to Canadian literature. Lowry's name, of course, is synonymous with his singular, doom-ridden masterpiece of 1930s Mexico, Under the Volcano, but much of his later work was written in and about his adopted home of Canada. Like all of Lowry's lesser-known works, Hear Us O Lord is an uneven book, sometimes great, sometimes embarrassingly bad. Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place is dominated by two particularly compelling novellas. "Through the Panama," a drunken, meditative journal of a voyage from Vancouver to Europe, revisits territory made familiar by Under the Volcano and is haunted by spectres from Lowry's earlier work. Lowry's combines his shipboard journal with "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," resulting in a bizarre accumulation of artistic rumination, gallows humour, and dread. "Through the Panama" also contains one of the most brilliant--and damning--paragraphs on Canada ever written, defining a Canadian as, among other things, "a conservationist divided against himself."The other novella, "The Forest Path to the Spring" was, according to Lowry's editors, intended to serve as a coda to his oeuvre, and is among his most direct and optimistic works. The story, which Lowry dedicated to his wife, Margerie, presents a clear and almost sentimental picture of their life in British Columbia. While analogies that call this story the Paradiso to Under the Volcano's Inferno are overly simplistic, "The Forest Path" does function as a counterpoint to the Mexican hell of Lowry's one great work. Fans of Under the Volcano who have never attempted to read more of Lowry's work would do well to seek out Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place. --Jack Illingworth

Genres: Short Stories, Literature, British Literature, Fiction, 20th Century, Classics

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Malcolm Lowry was a British novelist and poet whose masterpiece Under the Volcano is widely hailed as one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century. Born near Liverpool, England, Lowry grew up in a prominent, wealthy family and chafed under the expectations placed upon him by parents and boarding school. He wrote passionately on the themes of exile and despair, and his own wanderlust and erratic lifestyle made him an icon to later generations of writers.

Lowry died in a rented cottage in the village of Ripe, Sussex, where he was living with wife Margerie after having returned to England in the summer of 1955, ill and impoverished. The coroner's verdict was death by misadventure, and the causes of death given as inhalation of stomach contents, barbiturate poisoning, and excessive consumption of alcohol.

It has been suggested that his death was a suicide. Inconsistencies in the accounts given by his wife at various times about what happened at the night of his death have also given rise to suspicions of murder.

Lowry is buried in the churchyard of St John the Baptist in Ripe. Lowry reputedly wrote his own epitaph: "Here lies Malcolm Lowry, late of the Bowery, whose prose was flowery, and often glowery. He lived nightly, and drank daily, and died playing the ukulele," but the epitaph does not appear on his gravestone

Reviews

[M.R. Dowsing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published posthumously, this collection seems to have been completed by Lowry prior to his death, albeit not entirely to his own satisfaction. However, it's a highly polished piece of work and there's nothing about it which feels unfinished. There is a brief publisher's note at the beginning, but some additional notes would have been useful to help the reader navigate through Lowry's sometimes obscure references. It's also often unclear whether we are reading fiction or autobiography, but I think Lowry deliberately blurred the boundaries between the two.

A long piece about a journey through the Panama Canal has copious marginal passages which interrupt the main narrative in an impressively irritating manner, while 'Gin and Goldenrod' is an alarming story about alcoholism which foreshadows Lowry's death. 'The Forest Path to the Spring' is based on Lowry's years living in a shack in an area of British Columbia the author here refers to as Eridanus (I think that's a fictional name). The Lowry character here describes working on ambitious musical compositions, which I assume is a substitute for his literary endeavours. This feels like a key work in the Lowry canon and makes a fascinating contrast to 'Under the Volcano' as it's actually quite optimistic and shows that the author's life was not all misery and despair.

This is an enigmatic, fascinating book by the writer who could be the greatest prose stylist in the English language. I would certainly recommend it to anyone who has read 'Under the Volcano' and is hungry for more, but it would not be a very accessible starting point.

[Lee Foust · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I was trying to write a review for each story individually but my free time and desire for completeness ran aground of one another. There are, in the updates I think below, some notes for the individual stories. It's an up and down collection, from brilliance and utter beauty to the Panama Canal story, which reads like an alcoholics diary and I found a real slog. I particularly love the Pompei story, which I frequently teach--and will continue, now, to teach since I'm working for a US study abroad school in nearby Sorrento--and found the Rome story delightful. The Canada tales, too, had some lovely sentiments and touched me. Overall a fine read.

[my name is corey irl · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘forest path to the spring’ makes for an excellent companion piece to under the volcano. shame about the rest though. i feel like lowry and the unabomber could have been pals.

[Richard Ascough · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the prose turgid, but it must have been good in its day as it won the Governor Generals award on 1961.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories in the second half of the book, particularly the ones set in the landscape north of Vancouver, are the most compelling stories in the book. The Italian stories and sea stories, less so. His prose at times reminded me of Joyce--complex, full of allusions, a writer's writing--but I can't say I was blown away. These pieces are just that, pieces. I will say that the ending of Elephant and Colosseum was a remarkable piece of almost mystical qualities, and like many an alcoholic, it is clear that Lowry longed for an perhaps occasionally received communication from a higher source.

[Robbie Manson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Lowry. His Italian stories not so much but "Through the Panama" yes and in particular my personal favourite "The Forest Path to the Spring". Not the masterpiece of Under the Volcano but a must-read for Lowry fans.

[Gosia]

Hear.

[Cindy Marsch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't read the whole thing. I found the "message in a bottle" story fascinating, but I got bored with the tedious other stories.

[Christopher Nilssen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only read "The Forest Path to the Spring", on the recommendation of a poetry workshop instructor. I found it difficult in the way that P.K. Page poems are difficult: the phrasing dips into the surreal, and the tone reminds me of a beat generation writer meandering through their road novella. That aside, there's some genuine literary gemstones to be mined from this work, and I think that some of them are of the stubborn type, requiring multiple readings to unearth.

Apparently Under the Volcano is essential. I've put it on the wish list. As a side note, Lowry passed away during a "misadventure" at the age of 48. As of this review I'm only a year younger.

[Zach]

Lowry is becoming one of my favorite authors. The front half of this is pretty rough/unfinished, but the back half is really nice. Some moments of extreme beauty and heartbreak that help build the world/epic that would have been part of his multi-volume master work. Recommended if you liked Under the Volcano and want to be sad again.

[federico garcía LOCA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some writers write for masses, others write for other writers, artists, creators, alcoholics…

It’s certainly no Volcano, but as I wound through these stories (published posthumously, clearly only an approximation of what they may have become) they won me over.

[Scott Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Forest Path to the Spring comes glancingly within reach of Under the Volcano.

[Jaume J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malcolm, malcolm, malcolm

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some rather good and some just alright stories. The call of the sea and the majesty of PNW natural beauty is communicated with exuberance.

[Ravindra Prasad · Rating 5 out of 5]

he is good author