The Kaleidoscopic Vision of Malcolm Lowry

This book is an interdisciplinary analysis of Malcolm Lowry’s literary works and correspondence. Foxcroft examines Lowry’s attempts to reintegrate international modernism with primitivism through the interconnectedness of East-West cultures and to attain cosmic harmony by bridging the natural sciences and the humanities.

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The Kaleidoscopic Vision of Malcolm Lowry: Souls and Shamans is an interdisciplinary investigation of the kaleidoscopic vision of international modernist writer Malcolm Lowry through an analysis of his selected literary works and correspondence. Nigel Foxcroft examines Lowry’s sustained endeavors to attain psychoanalytical atonement with himself and his environment in Ultramarine, Swinging the Maelstrom, “The Forest Path to the Spring,” and October Ferry to Gabriola. This book also addresses the odyssey on which Lowry and his literary protagonists embark to exorcize souls from the past and gain a deeper insight into human nature in Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend is Laid, La Mordida, and “Through the Panama.” Foxcroft analyzes how Lowry’s psychogeographic perception of the interconnectedness of East-West cultures and civilizations, along with the influence of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican customs, are necessary historical dimensions of his work. This book traces Lowry's intellectual efforts in pursuing philosophical and cosmic knowledge in order to bridge the gap between the rational natural sciences and instinctive humanities. Scholars of history, literature, Latin American studies, religion, and spirituality will find this book particularly useful.