Although the chronology of the novels Golding published in the last fourteen years of his life is Darkness Visible (1979), Rites of Passage (1980), The Paper Men (1984), Close Quarters (1987), Fire Down Below (1989), it seems appropriate to assess the novels outside this order. The second, fourth and fifth of these novels form a trilogy, known either as ‘The Sea Trilogy’, or by the title given to the trilogy when it was published in a single volume in 1991: To the Ends of the Earth. The narrative continuity of the trilogy means it would be more useful to assess all three novels together, so this last section will consider Darkness Visible and The Paper Men before the trilogy, which allows me to conclude with an assessment of the last novel Golding published in his lifetime.

By the late 1970s it was generally felt that Golding was a spent force, that he had taken his unique vision as far as it could go. Then, in 1979, Darkness Visible was published, an event which demonstrated that Golding still had one of the most extraordinary voices in contemporary literature. In general, the book was received enthusiastically, but with some bewilderment. The author himself did nothing to clear up the confusion by his refusal to speak about the novel at all. Golding had been an unusually co-operative author in terms of discussing his own work, as he was about subsequent books, and this quite uncharacteristic reticence on his part has contributed a great deal to the mystique which still surrounds the novel.

Darkness Visible has a straightforward enough story line. It is divided into three sections, each one of which is centred upon a specific character. The first section focuses upon Matty, who has emerged from the blazing ruins of London's docks after a bombing raid duringWorldWar II, and who acts throughout the novel like an Old Testament prophet. Matty tends to be seen as a figure representing ‘Good’. The second section centres upon Sophy who, because of her criminal behaviour, sexual excesses, and general attitude to life, tends to be seen as the antithesis of Matty, and therefore as a figure representing ‘Evil’. The third section describes the coming together of these two characters.