Chapter III Summary

Chapter Three of The Rings of Saturn allows the reader to accompany the author as he walks on the coastal footpath out of Lowestoft and follows the dunes and cliff's edge that leads to the shore. Here he finds rows of tents of individualistic fishermen, each not communicating with their neighbour, and gazing out into the depths of the sea. The author thinks about this act, and the facts that have brought them here; the once miraculous Herring catches that gave the surrounds and the city of Lowestoft its fortune.

The author recounts how, years of industrial pollution have now tainted the waters around the east Anglian countryside, and finds in this a metaphor for the 'darkening' and decay of civilisation. He muses on the Herring fish, and how he was forced to watch an instructional film whilst at school about...