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A Companion to Under the Volcano
An item-by-item discussion of the innumerable, often obscure details of Malcolm Lowry's novel, this book comprises 1,600 notes covering some 7,000 specific points. The notes are keyed to page numbers in the Penguin paperback and the two standard hardback editions. The appendices include a glossary, bibliography, maps of the region, and an index of motifs.
In their comprehensive but unpedantic commentary on the novel's complexities, the authors' emphasis is on the narrative level. All points of obscurity are followed by an interpretation of fact. Thus references are noted to films, books, places, foreign languages, and national and tribal histories. Special attention is given to the literary, mystical, and Mexican background.
An important reference work that not only establishes the right context of relevant knowledge for proper understanding of the text, but also makes its own Lowry criticism. (J.H. Ferris Choice)
Treasure house of riches ... send[s] readers back to the novel with fresh perceptions. (Ronald Binns Canadian Literature)
An item-by-item discussion of the innumerable, often obscure details of Malcolm Lowry's novel, this book comprises 1,600 notes covering some 7,000 specific points. The notes are keyed to page numbers in the Penguin paperback and the two standard hardback editions. The appendices include a glossary, bibliography, maps of the region, and an index of motifs.
In their comprehensive but unpedantic commentary on the novel's complexities, the authors' emphasis is on the narrative level. All points of obscurity are followed by an interpretation of fact. Thus references are noted to films, books, places, foreign languages, and national and tribal histories. Special attention is given to the literary, mystical, and Mexican background.
About the Author
Chris Ackerley is a lecturer in the English department of the University of Otago, New Zealand. Lawrence J. Clipper is a professor in the English department at Indiana University, South Bend.
In their comprehensive but unpedantic commentary on the novel's complexities, the authors' emphasis is on the narrative level. All points of obscurity are followed by an interpretation of fact. Thus references are noted to films, books, places, foreign languages, and national and tribal histories. Special attention is given to the literary, mystical, and Mexican background.
An important reference work that not only establishes the right context of relevant knowledge for proper understanding of the text, but also makes its own Lowry criticism. (J.H. Ferris Choice)
Treasure house of riches ... send[s] readers back to the novel with fresh perceptions. (Ronald Binns Canadian Literature)
An item-by-item discussion of the innumerable, often obscure details of Malcolm Lowry's novel, this book comprises 1,600 notes covering some 7,000 specific points. The notes are keyed to page numbers in the Penguin paperback and the two standard hardback editions. The appendices include a glossary, bibliography, maps of the region, and an index of motifs.
In their comprehensive but unpedantic commentary on the novel's complexities, the authors' emphasis is on the narrative level. All points of obscurity are followed by an interpretation of fact. Thus references are noted to films, books, places, foreign languages, and national and tribal histories. Special attention is given to the literary, mystical, and Mexican background.
About the Author
Chris Ackerley is a lecturer in the English department of the University of Otago, New Zealand. Lawrence J. Clipper is a professor in the English department at Indiana University, South Bend.
476 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1984
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March 20, 2026
Exhaustive, meticulous, and as dense as the macaronic, layered novel it attends, drawing on Lowry's manuscripts, letters, personal library, and notes to document thousands of textual, historical, and literary references. Overwhelming for a first-time reader. But it leaves you with a renewed appreciation (both skeptical and sharpened) for Lowry’s multilaminate prose, revealing how unabashedly he borrowed copied from other writers, while fostering a corresponding cynicism about how lesser novelists pretend not to do the same.
Displaying 1 of 1 review