From Psychology to Ontology: William Golding’s Later Fiction

Abstract

Although William Golding (1911–93) was a Nobel Laureate, even many highly literate people associate him only with Lord of the Flies and, possibly, Rites of Passage. However, although not an immensely prolific author compared with many of his peers, Golding actually produced a considerable body of work. His writing is clearly divisible into three distinct phases. The first of these begins with Lord of the Flies (1954), The Inheritors (1955), Pincher Martin (1956) and Free Fall (1959), and ends with the publication of The Spire in 1964. The second phase incorporates the volume of essays The Hot Gates (1965), the novel The Pyramid (1967) and the three short stories collected as The Scorpion God (1971). With the exception of the collection of essays AMoving Target (1982) and the travel book An Egyptian Journey (1985), the third phase comprises novels alone, beginning with the publication of Darkness Visible (1979); following this were Rites of Passage (1980), The Paper Men (1984), Close Quarters (1987), Fire Down Below (1989), and then the posthumously published The Double Tongue (1995). In this chapter Golding’s later fiction will be discussed in chronological order but an exception has been made for the Sea Trilogy, so that The Paper Men will be discussed before Rites of Passage. Although this order disrupts the actual sequence of publication, the inevitable narrative continuity established by the voyage depicted in these novels clearly suggests that they be assessed together.