The Lowry walk

A grand tour to Eridanus
by Trevor Marc Hughes

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As Trevor Carolan reminds us, in a welcome bit of shade on a hot day, many consider Malcolm Lowry’s Under the Volcano to be one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century, and he lived in a shack just over there.

On July 21, 2026, a group of eighteen tour attendees, some writers, some interested in the heritage and history of Deep Cove, surround accomplished writer Trevor Carolan as he stands in front of a stone speckled with lichen where Carolan’s words are carved, denoting Lowry’s previous residence:

Malcolm Lowry’s celebrated shack stood on the beach east of this spot, and his most beloved local story “The Forest Path to the Spring” was written here. He called this stretch of shoreline Eridanus, Its mystic seasons, he wrote, are “like that which is called the Tao.” T.C. IX.11.04

It has been some time since Trevor Carolan and I first talked about walking from Deep Cove along the Malcolm Lowry Trail at Cates Park. Various commitments and events cropping up kept us from going on that stroll. Under the umbrella of an event organized by the Deep Cove Heritage Society and the Elders Council for Parks, we’ve fulfilled that intent. I’ve read Under the Volcano although I’ll admit not to having read many other examples of Lowry’s work. Trevor Carolan himself will tell you that it is a dense book, and not easy to get through: the story of a British consul in a south central town in Mexico in 1938 coming to terms with his life as he succumbs to the ravages of alcoholism. Carolan let the tour attendees know, on this walking tour that is hopes will take place regularly, that Lowry himself was a hard drinker, and there are tales and rumours discussed at the beginning of the walk as to how far he would swim across the inlet to get to a favoured beverage.

Despite upper class beginnings, or perhaps because of them, Malcolm Lowry left his privileged family existence in England in his youth for a life on the seas, and would later study under the wing of Conrad Aiken, who is also described in the walk as a man battling the bottle. Lowry received his B.A. in English and published his first novel Ultramarine. But it could have been the bumpy ride of a life that followed, transporting Lowry from Mexico to Los Angeles to the shores near Vancouver, that was the palette from which much of his writing emanated, from Hear Us O Lord From Heaven Thy Dwelling Place to Under the Volcano. It’s from the former book, short stories that, even considering his eminent reputation as a novelist today, readers will note a disappointment in how Lowry saw himself regarded as a writer in his times…a kind of eviction of the soul.

The tour also touches on other figures that skim Lowry’s life, times, and former Dollarton shack near Deep Cove: Trevor Carolan reads Earle Birney, Dorothy Livesay is read by poet Daniela Elza, and Carolan talks about Chief Dan George as well as Al Neil, who also had a shack, only a bit further west. Speaking of eviction, Elza reads from her current collection of poems concerning the housing crisis, SCAR/CITY.

A sense of place comes out of the walk, and also what is derived from the environment and culture of home. Lowry saw this place at Dollarton, at the end of the reaches of the British Empire, as paradise: Eridanus. The name came from the large constellation he could make out in the night sky in those days from 1939 to 1954, when he called his shack home and where he lived with his wife Marjorie Bonner. The tour made for a fascinating glimpse into the times of Malcolm Lowry, and my thanks to Trevor Carolan, as well as the Deep Cove Heritage Society and the Elders Council for Parks for arranging it. May there be many more!

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The latest book by Trevor Marc Hughes is The Final Spire: ‘Mystery Mountain’ Mania in the 1930s.  He wrote the story of the first ascent of Canada’s tallest peak in Capturing the Summit: Hamilton Mack Laing and the Mount Logan Expedition of 1925. He is currently the non-fiction editor for The British Columbia Review and recently reviewed books by Michael Layland, Daphne Sleigh, Michael J. Fox and Nelle Fortenberry, John Firth, Richard Butler, and Wade Davis. He lives in Vancouver with his wife and two sons.

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The British Columbia Review

Interim Editors, 2023-26: Trevor Marc Hughes (non-fiction), Brett Josef Grubisic (fiction)
Publisher: Richard Mackie

Formerly The Ormsby Review, The British Columbia Review is an on-line book review and journal service for BC writers and readers. The Advisory Board now consists of Jean Barman, Wade Davis, Robin Fisher, Barry Gough, Hugh Johnston, Kathy Mezei, Patricia Roy, and Graeme Wynn. Provincial Government Patron (since September 2018): Creative BC. Honorary Patron: Yosef Wosk. Scholarly Patron: SFU Graduate Liberal Studies. The British Columbia Review was founded in 2016 by Richard Mackie and Alan Twigg.

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