Ultramarine is the first novel by English writer Malcolm Lowry. Published in 1933, the novel follows a young man aboard a steamer in the early 20th century and his struggle to gain acceptance from his crew mates. Lowry tinkered with the novel until his death, adapting it also to make it fit with his second novel, Under the Volcano (1947).
Introduction
Ultramarine is the story of Dana Hilliot, a young man of a well-to-do family who signs up to sail to the Far East on the Oedipus Tyrannus. The crew, and especially Andy, the "chinless cook", don't readily accept him as one of theirs because Dana is from a different socio-economic class: they all saw how his father, driving a luxury car, dropped him off at the ship, and they know that Dana doesn't need to work for a living as they do. Moreover, Dana is a mess-boy who is not particularly good at his work. The novel's action comes to a head when during shore leave, Dana has found enough courage in liquor to insult Andy, after which the two develop a kind of friendship. Along the way, Dana writes to and pines for his virginal girlfriend back home, Janet; his dedication to her is another challenge to him during shore leave, when his crew mates visit bars and brothels.
Background and development
The novel was written from Lowry's own experience; he had sailed at age 18, starting as a deck hand, on a tramp steamer, and like Hilliot he had gotten permission from his father to delay entrance into university and go to sea for a year. Like Hilliot, Lowry was dropped off at the quay from the family limousine.
Lowry's notes made during his voyage were the basis for two short stories (his first publications) that appeared in Experiment, a Cambridge magazine, in the early 1930s. According to Margerie Bonner, Lowry's wife and editor, these two stories were worked into the novel Ultramarine. The history of the novel's manuscript is muddled and contradictory: Lowry said he'd finished the novel at a friend's house but lost the manuscript, and the friend, Martin Case, later claimed to have found it in his trash can; according to Conrad Aiken, Lowry's idol and friend, a version was kept at his house and Lowry knew about it. The novel was published in 1933 by Jonathan Cape. Afterward, the name of the ship was changed from Nawab to Oedipus Tyrannus, "to conform with Hugh's ship in Under the Volcano."
The style of the novel
The story is a semi-autobiographical account of the life at sea of an unskilled hand on a merchant ship bound for the Far East sometime during the inter-war period (1927). Lowry himself went to sea when he was 18. The novel is partly descriptive, in that it describes in concrete vignettes life on board, but it is also much more than that. In parts, it is poetic and even lyrical, as it purports to reflect the emotions of a very young man confronted with new and fascinating experiences. In other parts, it is philosophical, as the hero indulges in lengthy musings and reflections on life in general, life on board the ship, and his own life in particular. Dialogues form an important part of the novel too, and they are frequently written in very realistic, vivid and crude language, reflecting faithfully (one supposes) the language used by the crew on board the ship, who are, after all, working-class men with little or no formal education.
The combination of these different styles gives the novel a fairly unique flavor. However, occasionally but not too often, the dialogues and the author's personal reflections (which are intertwined) may seem overlong, with the risk that they may border on the tedious. Also, the mixture of vulgar and obscene language on the one hand (that used by the crew and the hero when dealing with them), and academic or semi-philosophical ramblings on the other (when the author/hero is left to his own devices) — this mixture can feel contrived at times. Some readers may feel that the style borders on the pompous and the arcane in places, when the author quotes Ancient Greek or Norwegian (since the hero is supposed to be part-Norwegian). Overall, one feels that the style is not quite as rounded and sophisticated as it purports to be — no doubt the sign of a novel written by a very young man. (Lowry was not even 25 when he wrote it.)
Key themes in the novel
The story is that of a voyage by sea on a British merchant ship in 1927, from the UK to the Far East (Japan and China). The ship is due to return to Britain from the Far East, but the second leg of the trip is not narrated. (In fact, while out in the East, the crew are told that they will go from Britain to America and back, after their journey back from China, before being allowed to go home!)