Past critics have seen little need to pursue the artist-theme of Malcolm Lowry's novels much beyond its autobiographical basis. Certainly that basis exists, for one can clearly see that Lowry's protagonists are modeled on his own life. Nevertheless, it is one thing to say that Lowry's protagonists are thinly disguised versions of himself; it is quite another to say they are only that. If Lowry had trouble creating believable fictional personae who were not writers, he had no trouble fictionalizing the one persona that he did have at his disposal. In other words, Lowry used the vocation of writer to his own artistic advantage, and as a metaphor for the human condition. Lowry's first novel, Ultramarine, serves as the best focus for discussion in this case, since it is here that his first artist theme originates.
