Hadfield, Duncan John (1982) Real and imaginary golf-courses : systems of order in Malcolm Lowry's Under the volcano. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

Frequently employing the device of close textual analysis, this thesis attempts to chart, and subsequently examine, some of the ordering systems which would appear to inform, in a variety of ways, Malcolm Lowry's novel Under the Volcano. The introduction sets out to try and explain why the novel can be regarded, to some extent at least, as an 'open' text, and further suggests that the reader himself is posited by Lowry as an implied organising consciousness. Dividing the analysis into the fields of external, symbolic and motival areas of potential order, the thesis then proceeds to further examine smaller units of Lowry's processes.

Although generally acknowledged as a dense or complex text, Under the Volcano has infrequently been subjected to rigorous textual analysis and, as such, the thesis charts some large new areas which have so far only remained peripheral to Lowry studies, always seeking to draw attention to how any given system corresponds to itself, as well as to other related areas of reference. Mythic, literary, cabbalistical, and other relevant material is introduced if it assists in defining any specific aspect of a potential ordering system. The thesis concludes that Under the Volcano seeks to draw attention to its own obsession with pattern and that one of Lowry's purposes is to enable his reader to imaginatively participate in the ordering and re-ordering of the novel's basic materials.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PR English literature
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Lowry, Malcolm, 1909-1957. Under the volcano, Lowry, Malcolm, 1909-1957 -- Criticism and interpretation, Order in literature, Semiotics and literature
Official Date:	September 1982
Dates:	Date Event September 1982 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Bergonzi, Bernard
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	459 leaves
Language:	eng

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