"A precondition for reading good books is not reading bad ones: for life is short" - Schopenhauer.
Thursday, 10 September 2009
Who's Afraid of Malcolm Lowry?
2009 is the centenary of the birth of Malcolm Lowry but you could be forgiven for not knowing this fact as it has attracted little attention so far. But a new book by many hands, Malcolm Lowry: From Mersey to the World is just about to be published by Liverpool University Press and there's an accompanying exhibition opening at the Bluecoat Arts Centre in Liverpool on 24th September when the book is launched. I have contributed a chapter on October Ferry to Gabriola with an autobiographical introduction explaining my choice of this, probably one of Lowry's lesser read works. There are lots of essays by a very varied cast of contributors under the helmsmanship of Bluecoat Director Bryan Biggs and Helen Tookey so don't delay!
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3 comments:
Strange that the Lowry centenary has attracted such little attention. I can report that the very opposite is true in Canada (in particular, British Columbia). This due in large measure to the efforts of literary types who embrace the author as a Canadian. Much as I'd like to claim him as one of us, it's a view with which I take issue.
Brian, there are those who would say that, coming from New Brighton, Lowry wasn't "from Liverpool". Let's call such people "Scouse fundamentalists". Fortunately there is "Merseyside" to cover all eventualities.
Seriously, it is odd that someone who is so obviously one of the greats is not being made more a fuss of.
Agreed, it is indeed odd. One would think that at the very least publishers would see the centenary as a means of encouraging sales. I note that in Canada, for example, the very fine October Ferry to Gabriola is out of print.
(Though one can purchase new copies of the French translation En route vers l'île de Gabriola!)
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