INSCAPE: LANDSCAPES OF THE MIND IN THE CANADIAN AND MEXICAN NOVELS OF MALCOLM LOWRY

Positive 'sense of place' in the regional novel is a frequent geographical theme, but the multivalent nature of the novelist's inscape, or landscape of the mind, has been neglected. Malcolm Lowry's positive evaluation of British Columbia and negative view of Mexico generate a polarity that inform all his later works. His portrayal of basic landscape elements such as seacoast, interior, house, garden, forest, mountain, and cavern is explored in terms of this eutopia.dystopia antinomy. The valency attached to these landscape elements is directly related to locale: for Lowry British Columbia is home, a Dantesque Paradise, while Mexico is away, an Inferno.