Darkness Visible (1979)

-

by William Golding



A man disfigured as a boy in the fires of WWII London and a beautiful young woman represent polar opposites of the spiritual spectrum, the first a literal-minded social outcast who believes himself to be in communion with holy spirits and undergoes great sacrifice in order to do their bidding and the second a believer in chaotic chance who exploits herself and others in order to satisfy her need for autonomy.

 


William Golding is on a serious mission here.

 

William Golding


He is concerned with questions of judgment, morality, community, and spirituality, but he denies the possibility of easy answers.

 


The result is a dense novel, generally difficult, sometimes entertaining, written in prose that I found to be needlessly verbose.



It is an interesting book, but I did not find the main characters to be convincing as individuals so much as vehicles for the author's explorations of the extremes of human nature.

 


Some of the secondary characters, particularly the bookseller Sim Goodchild and the pedophile Mr. Pedigree, were more compelling.


 


That they figure prominently in the conclusion is to the novel's credit.



"Visible Darkness" (Finnish)

"Blazing Darkness" (Danish)

"The Visible Darkness" (Swedish)

"The Visible Darkness" (Spanish)

"The Fire of Darkness" (German)

"The Visible Dark" (Italian)

"Visible Darkness" (Greek)

"Visible Darkness" (Polish)

"The Dark Eye" (Chinese)

"Visible Darkness" (Hungarian)

"Clear Darkness" (Romanian)

"Visible Darkness" (Turkish)





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Dragon Reborn (The Wheel of Time #3) (1991)

-
Image
by Robert Jordan This novel draws Robert Jordan's large cast of characters, scattered during the events of the previous book, together once again for a confrontation with evil in the city of Tear, where Rand al'Thor, now becoming widely acknowledged as the much anticipated and dreaded Dragon Reborn, must claim a legendary sword in accordance with prophecy. Robert Jordan  Jordan has quite a few balls in the air already in a series that numbers fourteen fat novels.  Judging from the opinions of readers of the later books, it looks as though this profusion of heroes, villains, and schemes may ultimately serve to diffuse the drama of Jordan's story; however, this novel maintains its narrative momentum by showing us how our cast of characters converge for an action-packed climax.  Rand is oddly missing from most of this tale, but we gain some intriguing insights into other characters. "The Dragon Reborn" (Spanish) "The Dragon Reborn" (Italian)
Read more

Lust, Caution (2007)

-
Image
Director: Ang Lee Writers: James Schamus, Hui-Ling Wang, based on a story by Eileen Chang Stars: Tang Wei, Tony Leung, Joan Chen, Leehom Wang, Chung-Hua Tou, Zhi-Ying Zhu, Ying-Hsuan Kao, Lawrence Ko, Johnson Yuen, Lar Lok Chin A young woman living in China during the Japanese occupation (Tang Wei)  becomes entangled with a collaborator (Tony Leung), whom she has been assigned to seduce and set up for execution.  The assignment eventually becomes the context for her entire life, until her very sense of self is wrapped up in layers of deceit and betrayal.  Ang Lee's masterful film introduces us to our characters when they are young college students swept up in idealistic fervor and then rejoins them years later when they are older and wearier, fighting the same battle more out of necessity than idealism.   This is a long film because Lee takes his time fleshing out these characters, but it is time well spent.  I was thoroughly engrossed and shattered by the ...
Read more

Hamilton (2020)

-
Image
Director: Thomas Kail Writers: Lin-Manuel Miranda, based on the book by Ron Chernow Stars: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom, Jr., Phillipa Soo, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Christopher Jackson, Daveed Diggs, Anthony Ramos This powerful Broadway musical provides an exciting, explosive account of Alexander Hamilton’s battle to transcend his outsider status as a low born bastard from the West Indies and gain the respect and power in America that will ultimately grant him access to “the room where it happens,” the place where policy is made and the course of the nation is set.  This filmed record of the stage production, assembled from two performances, showcases the energy of the performers.  In addition to the quality of the play, it is astonishing just to witness the complex interplay of music, rap, and choreography in long unbroken takes.  Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote both the music and the book and made the bold choice to cast it almost exclusively with people of color.  This...
Read more