‘Malcolm Lowry and the Interconnectedness of East-West Cultures and Civilizations’ (keynote lecture)

This keynote lecture takes us on a voyage relating to the life and works of the late-modernist writer, Malcolm Lowry (1909-57), who is famous for his masterpiece, Under the Volcano (1947). The scale of his perceptions and reflective consciousness – which is brilliantly showcased through his account of the Mexican Day of the Dead festival - necessitates an interdisciplinary journey of discovery. This paper contributes to the development of a psychogeographic and historical framework for the investigation and evaluation of modernism’s international dimensions and multicultural interconnectedness. It provides a foundation for the consideration of the influence of cultures and civilizations – east and west, ancient and modern – on modernist authors and on avant-garde artists.