Margerie Bonner

Margerie Bonner

Margerie Bonner (17 February 1905 – 28 September 1988) was an actress, scriptwriter and novelist who is best known as the wife of Malcolm Lowry and for her support of the author while he wrote his best known novel, Under the Volcano, considered one of the finest novels of the 20th century.[1]

The younger sister of silent screen star Priscilla Bonner, she also appeared in several films (spelling her first name Marjorie), among them Cecil B. De Mille's The King of Kings (1927), The Sign of the Cross (1932), and the talkie Cleopatra (1934). By the late 1930s her movie career was over and she was working as a personal assistant to the actress Penny Singleton.

On June 7, 1939, she met the British author Malcolm Lowry on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue at the time he had had begun the second draft of Under the Volcano.[2] They married in 1940 and settled in a beach shack in Dollarton, a small town near Vancouver, British Columbia. Bonner wrote scripts for CBC radio and published two mystery novels, The Shapes That Creep (1944) and The Last Twist of the Knife (1946).

She is chiefly remembered for her unsung role in the creation of Lowry's masterpiece, Under the Volcano (1947). Not only did she provide the supportive environment her husband needed in order to write, she meticulously edited the novel's manuscript while various passages were rewritten at her suggestion.[3] She is widely “considered to be the model for its central female character, the consul's wife, Yvonne."[4]

After Lowry's death in 1957, Margerie Bonner returned to Los Angeles and co-edited with Douglas Day the unfinished novel Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend Is Laid in 1968, and edited his Psalms and Songs in 1975.[5]

Lowry's death

Margerie Bonner was interviewed for a 1976 documentary produced by the National Film Board of Canada about Malcolm Lowry's life.[6]

In 1955 Lowry was persuaded by her to return to Ripe, a small village in Sussex, England, where he died two years later "after a fatal mixture of gin and sodium amytol: the coroner's verdict was 'Death by misadventure'".[7]

A 2007 collection of texts by Lowry suggests "he either committed suicide or was in fact murdered by his wife".[8]

  1. ^ "All Time 100 Novels". Time. October 16, 2005. http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/0,24459,under_the_volcano,00.html. 
  2. ^ M. C. Bradbrook (1974). Malcolm Lowry. His Art and Early Life - A Study in Transformation. London: Cambridge University Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=ytc8AAAAIAAJ&dq=malcolm+lowry&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=8_zCBlOwIA&sig=2Q6Iv7J8ZuzR3CSAwDCzv2NEQHY&hl=en&ei=2h1VS_SgMYzplAeOqdziCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=18&ved=0CE4Q6AEwEQ#v=onepage&q=&f=false. 
  3. ^ National Film Board of Canada (NFB) interview - 1976 film on Lowry's life
  4. ^ "Margerie Lowry, 83, Actress and a Writer". The New York Times. October 4, 1988. http://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/04/obituaries/margerie-lowry-83-actress-and-a-writer.html?pagewanted=1. 
  5. ^ "Margerie Lowry, 83, Actress and a Writer". The New York Times. October 4, 1988. http://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/04/obituaries/margerie-lowry-83-actress-and-a-writer.html?pagewanted=1. 
  6. ^ NFB film on Lowry's life
  7. ^ Bradbrook (1974), 19.
  8. ^ The Voyage that Never Ends: Malcolm Lowry in His Own Words, ed. Michael Hofmann

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Malcolm Lowry — Clarence Malcolm Lowry (* 28. Juli 1909 in Birkenhead; † 27. Juni 1957 (Suizid) in Ripe, East Sussex)[1] war ein britischer Schriftsteller. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Werke …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Malcolm Lowry — Malcolm Lowry, aged 37. Born Malcolm Lowry 28 July 1909(1909 07 28) New Brighton, Merseyside, England Died 26 June 1957 …   Wikipedia

  • Malcolm Lowry — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Lowry. Malcolm Lowry (né le 28 juillet 1909 à New Brighton, Angleterre, mort le 27 juin 1957 à Ripe, Angleterre) est un poète et romancier britannique. Sommaire …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Malcolm Lowry — (Cheshire, 28 de julio de 1909 26 de junio de 1957) fue un poeta y novelista inglés. Contenido 1 Biografía 2 Bibliografía 3 Referencias 4 …   Wikipedia Español

  • October Ferry to Gabriola — is a novel by Malcolm Lowry. Edited by his widow Margerie Bonner, it was posthumously published in 1970. It is an existential love story featuring a Lowry like character, Ethan Lleweyllen, and his wife, in their never fully consummated journey to …   Wikipedia

  • Lowry, Malcolm — ▪ British novelist born July 28, 1909, Birkenhead, Cheshire, Eng. died June 27, 1957, Ripe, Sussex       English novelist, short story writer, and poet whose masterwork is Under the Volcano (1947; reissued 1962). It was begun in 1936 and is… …   Universalium

  • William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester — Sir William Paulet (c. 1483 ndash; 10 March 1572) was an English statesman who attained several peerages throughout his lifetime: Baron St John (9 March 1539), Earl of Wiltshire (19 January 1550), and Marquess of Winchester (11 October 1551).… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”