Under the Volcano

Making and release

Between 1940 and 1944, Lowry revised the novel with significant editorial assistance from Margerie Bonner.^[2] Lowry's lengthy reply, dated 2 January 1946, was a passionate defence of the book, and Cape published the novel without further revision.^[3][4] Prior to his work on Under the Volcano, Lowry had a single novel, Ultramarine, published in 1933, and in 1936 he authored a short story also titled "Under the Volcano" which held the core idea for the later book.^[5] Lowry's initial draft of the novel took shape during his residence in Mexico, a period marked by heavy drinking and a lack of control as his first marriage was disintegrating.^[6]

Margerie Bonner managed to save the incomplete novel from the fire, though every other manuscript Lowry was working on was destroyed.^[7] By 1945 the novel was complete and was dispatched to several publishers without delay.^[3] While journeying through Mexico in the late winter, Lowry received word that two houses, Reynal & Hitchcock in the US and Jonathan Cape in the UK, had both agreed to publish the book.^[3] On 29 November 1945, Cape wrote to Lowry expressing doubts about the work and requesting major changes, though he noted that a refusal to revise would not automatically mean rejection.^[3]

A radio adaptation of the novel aired on Studio One in 1947, but by the year of Lowry's death, 1957, the book was no longer in print.^[8]

What the cited sources add

The Le Monde list describes the novel as set in Mexico on the Day of the Dead in 1938, following the last day in the life of Geoffrey Firmin.^[1] The same source notes the impending eruption of the nearby volcano serves as a metaphor for Firmin's deteriorating mental state and the looming world war.^[1] The Le Monde list is one of 759 lists used to generate the main The Greatest Books list.^[1]