The strength of this documentary is the appearance of many who knew Malcolm Lowry personally, including his widow, Margery Lowry (Bonner). It traces the emotional and physical geography of Malcolm Lowry's turbulent life, including his most productive time, the 14 years he and Margery spent living in a beach shack in Dollarton (now part of Vancouver) BC, Canada.
Margery Bonner is the unnamed spouse in Malcolm Lowry's The Forest Path to the Spring, which is a fictionalized account of their years at Dollarton ("Eridanus"). This novella, thought to be Lowry's "most optimistic work" (by George Bowering), describes that period in idyllic terms, with many positive references to his spouse, by the unnamed narrator. It was published posthumously along with a parallel work, The Bravest Boat, from The October Ferry to Gabriola.
Volcano, though, is an unremitting tragedy that begins at the bottom of a life, and goes downhill from there. Richard Burton's lugubrious reading from Lowry's prose is powerful, but dreary. One is tempted to ask, Is that all there is? No, it isn't. The Forest Path to the Spring stands in counterpoint to Volcano. The novella certainly portrays the author's inner demons, but offers as well a lightness, a powerful hymn to the spirit of a place, and a description of a life at least partly redeemed.
Margery Bonner is the unnamed spouse in Malcolm Lowry's The Forest Path to the Spring, which is a fictionalized account of their years at Dollarton ("Eridanus"). This novella, thought to be Lowry's "most optimistic work" (by George Bowering), describes that period in idyllic terms, with many positive references to his spouse, by the unnamed narrator. It was published posthumously along with a parallel work, The Bravest Boat, from The October Ferry to Gabriola.
Volcano, though, is an unremitting tragedy that begins at the bottom of a life, and goes downhill from there. Richard Burton's lugubrious reading from Lowry's prose is powerful, but dreary. One is tempted to ask, Is that all there is? No, it isn't. The Forest Path to the Spring stands in counterpoint to Volcano. The novella certainly portrays the author's inner demons, but offers as well a lightness, a powerful hymn to the spirit of a place, and a description of a life at least partly redeemed.