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''Pincher Martin: The Two Deaths of Christopher Martin'' (often referred to simply as ''Pincher Martin''), is a novel by British writer William Golding, first published in 1956. It is Golding's third novel, directly following ''The Inheritors'', which in turn came after his ''magnum opus'' and debut ''Lord of the Flies''. The novel is one of Golding's best-known novels, and is noted for being uniquely existential and somewhat minimalistic in setting. ==Plot== The plot of ''Pincher Martin'' surrounds the survival and psychophysical, spiritual and existential plight of one Christopher Hadley "Pincher" Martin, a temporary naval lieutenant who believes himself to be the sole survivor of a military torpedo destroyer which sinks in the North Atlantic Ocean. At the start of the novel Martin is in the water and desperately fighting for his life. He is apparently saved after being providentially washed ashore a rocky mid-Atlantic islet. He deduces that his naval crew is dead and begins his grim struggle for survival but, as time goes by, a series of strange and increasingly terrifying events, which he at first dismisses as hallucinations, slowly provokes in him an existential crisis. Throughout the novel Golding juxtaposes themes of sanity and insanity, and reality and unreality. At first Martin is portrayed as a thinking individual, who uses his intelligence, education and training to source food, collect fresh water and alert any potential rescuers. It is in fact during this rational phase that Martin is at his most delusional. It his only when insanity takes hold that he begins to comprehend the reality of his predicament: 'There is a pattern emerging. I do not know what the pattern is but even my dim guess at it makes my reason falter'.〔William Golding,''Pincher Martin'' (Faber 1962 edn.), p. 163〕 The novel's twist ending reveals that Martin actually drowned shortly after his ship was sunk; when his body is found, it is noted that "he didn't even have time to kick off his seaboots". This means that his struggle for survival on the island never actually happened, which changes the work into an allegory of purgatory and damnation.〔https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-16530446/a-matter-of-belief-pincher-martin-s-afterlife〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pincher Martin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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