Like the works of James Joyce, Malcolm Lowry's (1909-1957) "Under the Volcano" is more talked about than actually read. This is one element of cultural literacy: to know about a work even if you haven't read it, or to be familiar with a film even if you haven't seen it.

    Lowry himself was hardly a role model. Neglected by his well-to-do parents, he began drinking at 14. After spending some time at sea -- an experience he incorporated into his first novel, "Ultramarine" -- he complied with his father's wishes and enroled at Cambridge, where his roommate fell in love with him and committed suicide when Lowry rejected him. Lowry bore the guilt of this for the rest of his life.

    He became part of London's literary scene in the 1930's, married, separated, and ended up in treatment for his alcoholism by age 27. That was in New York. He subsequently lived in Hollywood, Oaxaca, Mexico, Vancouver, Canada and Sussex, England. In the latter two he lived with his second wife, Margerie Bonner. Though she also drank, she was overall a positive influence on him, seeing to his work and making sure he ate regularly. Nevertheless, he died at 47.

    It was his time in Mexico that inspired his masterpiece, "Under the Volcano." Like Joyce's "Ulysses," it was set mainly on one day and follows the actions of one man as he moves around a city. But the city was in Mexico, and the day was Nov. 2, 1938, significant as the "Day of the Dead," a sort of ghost festival.

    The action was covered in 12 chapters, a number which Lowry considered significant: the number of hours in a day, meaning daytime, and the number of months in a year (Chapter 1 starts a year after the other events covered in 2-12). It also has spiritual significance, he said, as it represents "man's spiritual aspirations." (Think of 12 signs in the zodiac, the 12 apostles of Jesus, etc.)

    Although Lowry had trouble getting the book published, it is now No. 11 on the list of the "100 best novels" of the 20th century.

    Vocabulary: Which word above means:

    1. strong desires, longings, ambitions

    2. used (in), as a writer uses experiences

    3. financially comfortable

    4. the 12 star signs used for telling fortunes

    5. familiarity with aspects of a culture

    6. addiction to drinking

    7. close students of Jesus

    8. someone to be imitated

    9. group of writers and their friends

    10. killing oneself

    ANSWERS: 1. aspirations 2. incorporated (into) 3. well-to-do 4. zodiac 5. cultural literacy 6. alcoholism 7. apostles 8. role model 9. literary scene 10. suicide