Sir William Gerald Golding is one of the 20th century's greatest novelists. He is best known for his novels Lord of the Flies and Rites of Passage. In 1983 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, and in 1988 he was knighted.
Early Life of William Golding
William Golding was born in St Columb Minor, Cornwall, in the southwest of England on September 19, 1911. He was educated at Marlborough Grammar School and Brasenose College, Oxford. He first took examinations in sciences but later transferred in English literature. After graduating from Oxford University, he worked as an actor and theatrical producer then spent a year teaching. At the age of 24, he published a book of poems.
Life in the Navy
When Golding was 28, he married, and also joined the navy rising to the rank of commander. He saw active service during World War II, which included involvement in the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck and the D-day landings in Normandy. After the war he returned to teaching and writing, but with a dark view of people's ability to destroy one another.
Golding the Teacher
After returning from war, Golding became a teacher for 15 years.
The Novelist and the Playwright
Lord of the Flies, published when Golding was 43, was an immediate success that gained him international success. He made enough money to allow him to give up teaching. It is a terrifying story that tells how a group of British school boys stranded on a desert island in the wake of a nuclear war and they lapsed into tribal rages and murder once they are away from society.
In 1958, he adapted the short story "Envoy Extraordinary" for the stage as The Brass Butterfly. Like much of Golding's work, the book deals with what it describes as 'the darkness of man's heart.' It has been filmed twice, in 1963 and 1990.
Golding recommended to his friend, scientist James Lovelock, the name "Gaia" to the now famous Gaia Theory. His work earned him many accolades but he was humble for his achievements, pointing out in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech that he was insignificant in the larger scheme of things. The novel Rites of Passage, published when he was 69, won the Booker Prize. He died in June 19, 1993, at the age of 81.
List of Books by William Golding
- Poems, 1934
- Lord of the Flies, 1954
- The Inheritors, 1955
- Pincher Martin, 1956
- Free Fall, 1959
- The Spire, 1964
- The Pyramid, 1967
- Darkness Visible, 1979
- Rites of Passage, 1980, first of the trilogy
- Close Quarters, 1987, sequel to the Rites of Passage
- Fire Down Below, 1989, the last of the trilogy
Sources:
Biographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers, 2002
Cambridge Literature in English, New Edition, edited by Ian Ousby,Cambridge, 1993
Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring, Larousse, 1994
Comments