Classics · DarkOn the Day of the Dead in 1938, an alcoholic British consul in Mexico is rejoined by his wife
Under the Volcano
One day in a Mexican town for a British consul whose wife has come back
The novel follows the Consul, Geoffrey Firmin, an alcoholic British diplomat, over a single day in Quauhnahuac, a fictional version of Cuernavaca, Mexico, on the Day of the Dead in November 1938. His wife Yvonne returns after leaving him the year before. His half-brother Hugh Firmin and the French film director Jacques Laruelle are also part of the story, and the first chapter is set a year later, on 2 November 1939. Lowry revised it from 1940 to 1944, and a 1944 fire at his cabin in Dollarton, British Columbia, nearly destroyed the manuscript.
More about this book
Who
Geoffrey Firmin, the Consul, his wife Yvonne, his half-brother Hugh and Jacques Laruelle.
World
Quauhnahuac, a fictional version of Cuernavaca, Mexico, on the Day of the Dead, 1938.
What makes it different
Lowry's agent could not find a publisher in 1940. His wife, Margerie Bonner, rescued the manuscript from the 1944 fire.
Feel
Hazy and tragic.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- Under the VolcanoWikipedia