Sursum Corda!: The Collected Letters of Malcolm Lowry, 1926-1946

Malcolm Lowry, author of Under the Volcano and one of the most celebrated English novelists of this century, was also a writer of superb letters. Collected here for the first time are close to 800 letters spanning more than thirty years, most of them never before published and all of them carefully annotated. Lowry’s letters range from his detailed, erudite, 35-page-long exegesis of his masterpiece to impassioned letters and notes to his wives. They include witty, ironic self-parodies, letters to younger writers, full of generous advice and literary discussion, and letters with analysis and acute insight into politics and current affairs. Lowry frequently illustrated his letters with drawings, marginal sketches and symbols of good cheer such as his seagulls which adorn many of the later letters. These illustrations have been reproduced in both volumes of The Collected Letters of Malcolm Lowry together with many photographs of Lowry and his correspondents, and reproductions of interesting holograph letters.