William Golding
Born	September 19, 1911(1911-09-19) Newquay, Cornwall, England
Died	June 19, 1993 (aged 81) Perranarworthal, Cornwall, England
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	British
Genres	allegory, essay
Notable work(s)	Lord of the Flies
Notable award(s)	Nobel Prize in Literature 1983
Influenced Stephen King

Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, poet and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate best known for his novel Lord of the Flies. He was also awarded the Booker Prize for literature in 1980, for his novel Rites of Passage, the first book of the trilogy To the Ends of the Earth. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... , The town should not be confused with New Quay in Wales. ... For other uses, see Cornwall (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... The parish of Perranarworthal is situated in the deanery and Hundred of Kerrier in Cornwall; it is bounded on the north by Kea, on the east by Restronguet Creek and Mylor, on the south by St Gluvias and Stithians, and on the west by Gwennap. ... For other uses, see Cornwall (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... This article is about work. ... In English usage, nationality is the legal relationship between a person and a country. ... A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or content. ... Allegory of Music by Filippino Lippi. ... For other uses, see Essay (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Lord of the Flies (disambiguation). ... Nobel Prize in Literature medal. ... For other persons named Stephen King, see Stephen King (disambiguation). ... is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... The Nobel Prize in literature is awarded annually to an author from any country who has produced the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency. The work in this case generally refers to an authors work as a whole, not to any individual work, though individual works are sometimes... For other uses, see Lord of the Flies (disambiguation). ... The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known as the Man Booker Prize, or simply the Man Booker, is one of the worlds most important literary prizes, and awarded each year for the best original novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland in... To the Ends of the Earth is a trilogy of novels by William Golding, consisting of Rites of Passage (1980), Close Quarters (1987), and Fire Down Below (1989). ... A trilogy is a set of three works of art, usually literature or film, that are connected and can be seen as a single work, as well as three individual ones. ... To the Ends of the Earth is a trilogy of novels by William Golding, consisting of Rites of Passage (1980), Close Quarters (1987), and Fire Down Below (1989). ...

Biography

Early life

Golding was born at his maternal grandmother's house, 47 Mountwise, St Columb Minor, Newquay, Cornwall^[1] , and he spent many childhood holidays there. He grew up at his family home in Marlborough, Wiltshire, where his father was a science master at Marlborough Grammar School (1905 to retirement). Alec Golding was a socialist with a strong commitment to scientific rationalism, and the young Golding and his elder brother Joseph attended the school where his father taught (not to be confused with Marlborough College, the "public" boarding school). His mother, Mildred, kept house at 29, The Green, Marlborough, and supported the moderate campaigners for female suffrage. In 1930 Golding went to Oxford University as an undergraduate at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he read Natural Sciences for two years before transferring to English Literature. He took his B.A. (Hons) Second Class in the summer of 1934, and later that year his first book, Poems, was published in London by Macmillan & Co, through the help of his Oxford friend, the anthroposophist Adam Bittleston. The text of the following account was adapted from:- The Parish Church History and Calendar blotter of 1939-40. ... , The town should not be confused with New Quay in Wales. ... For other uses, see Cornwall (disambiguation). ... This article is about the English town. ... Not to be confused with Wilshire. ... The University of Oxford (informally Oxford University), located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... and of the Brasenose College College name The Kings Hall and College of Brasenose Latin name aula regia et collegium aenei nasi Named after Bronze door knocker Established 1509 Sister college Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Principal Prof. ... The term natural science as the way in which different fields of study are defined is determined as much by historical convention as by the present day meaning of the words. ... The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian, V.S... Poems was the first work by British novelist William Golding (better known for Lord of the Flies, among other novels). ... Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately-held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. ... Anthroposophy, also called spiritual science, is a spiritual philosophy based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner,[1] which states that anyone who conscientiously cultivates sense-free thinking can attain experience of and insights into the spiritual world. ...

Marriage and family

Golding married Ann Brookfield on 30th September 1939 and they had two children, Judy and David.^[1]

War service

During World War II, Golding fought in the Royal Navy and was briefly involved in the pursuit of Germany's mightiest battleship, the Bismarck. He also participated in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, commanding a landing ship that fired salvoes of rockets onto the beaches, and then in a naval action at Walcheren in which 23 out of 24 assault crafts were sunk^[2]. At the war's end he returned to teaching and writing.^[1] Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... This article is about the navy of the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see Battleship (disambiguation). ... The German battleship Bismarck is one of the most famous warships of the Second World War. ... For other uses, see Normandy (disambiguation). ... Land on Normandy In military parlance, D-Day is a term often used to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. ... Amphibious assault ships, usually shortened to amphibs, phibs or popularly known as gator freighters, denotes a range of classes of warship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory by an amphibious assault. ... Satellite image of the Scheldt estuary Walcheren is a former island in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. ...

Death

In 1985 Golding and his wife moved to Perranarworthal, near Truro, Cornwall, where he died of heart failure on June 19, 1993. He was buried in the village churchyard at Bowerchalke, Wiltshire, England. He left the draft of a novel, The Double Tongue, set in Ancient Delphi, which was published posthumously.^[3][4] The parish of Perranarworthal is situated in the deanery and Hundred of Kerrier in Cornwall; it is bounded on the north by Kea, on the east by Restronguet Creek and Mylor, on the south by St Gluvias and Stithians, and on the west by Gwennap. ... Truro (pronounced ; Cornish: Truru) is a city in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see Cornwall (disambiguation). ... is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... Bowerchalke or Bower Chalke is a village and civil parish in the Salisbury district of Wiltshire, England, about 12 miles east of Shaftesbury, approximately 1 mile from both Hampshire and Dorset county boundaries. ... Not to be confused with Wilshire. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... The Double Tongue is a novel by William Golding. ... For other uses, see Delphi (disambiguation). ...

Career

Writing success

In September 1953 Golding sent the typescript of a book to Faber & Faber of London. Initially rejected by a reader there, the book was championed by Charles Monteith, then a new editor at the firm. He asked for various cuts in the text and the novel was published in September 1954 as Lord of the Flies. It was shortly followed by other novels, including The Inheritors, Pincher Martin, and Free Fall. Faber and Faber, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. ... For other uses, see Lord of the Flies (disambiguation). ... The Inheritors is a 1955 novel by the British author William Golding, better known for Lord of the Flies. ... Pincher Martin (Faber and Faber 1956) is the third novel by William Golding (author of Lord of the Flies). ... Free Fall is the fourth novel of English novelist William Golding first published in 1959. ...

Publishing success made it possible for Golding to resign his teaching post at Bishop Wordsworth's School in 1961, and he spent that academic year as writer-in-residence at Hollins College near Roanoke, Virginia. Having moved in 1958 from Salisbury to nearby Bowerchalke, he met his fellow villager and walking companion James Lovelock. The two discussed Lovelock's hypothesis that the living matter of the planet Earth functions like a single organism, and Golding suggested naming this hypothesis after Gaia, the goddess of the earth in Greek mythology. Bishop Wordsworths School is a Church of England boys day grammar school located in the centre of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. ... Hollins University is a four-year institution of higher education, a private university located on a 475-acre campus on the border of Roanoke County, Virginia and Botetourt County, Virginia. ... The Colony of Roanoke was the first English colony in the New World, founded at Roanoke Island. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... This article is about the city in the United Kingdom. ... Bowerchalke or Bower Chalke is a village and civil parish in the Salisbury district of Wiltshire, England, about 12 miles east of Shaftesbury, approximately 1 mile from both Hampshire and Dorset county boundaries. ... Dr. James Ephraim Lovelock, CH, CBE, FRS (born 26 July 1919) is an independent scientist, author, researcher, environmentalist, and futurologist who lives in Cornwall, in the south west of Great Britain. ... For other uses, see Gaia. ... This article is about Earth as a planet. ... For other uses, see Gaia. ...

In 1970 Golding was a candidate for the Chancellorship of the University of Kent at Canterbury, but lost to Jo Grimond. Golding won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1979, the Booker Prize in 1980, and in 1983 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1988. The 1970 University of Kent at Canterbury[1] election for the position of Chancellor was called following the death of the first Chancellor, Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, on August 27, 1968. ... Joseph Jo Grimond, Baron Grimond (July 29, 1913 - October 24, 1993) was a British politician, leader of the Liberal Party from 1956 to 1967 and again briefly in 1976. ... Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English Language. ... The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known in short as the Booker Prize, is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of either the Commonwealth of Nations or the Republic of Ireland. ... The Nobel Prize in literature is awarded annually to an author from any country who has produced the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency. The work in this case generally refers to an authors work as a whole, not to any individual work, though individual works are sometimes... Elizabeth II in an official portrait as Queen of Canada (on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee in 2002, wearing the Sovereigns badges of the Order of Canada and the Order of Military Merit) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary) (born 21 April 1926), styled HM The...

Fiction

Golding's often allegorical fiction makes broad use of allusions to classical literature, mythology, and Christian symbolism. No distinct thread unites his novels, and the subject matter and technique vary. However his novels are often set in closed communities such as islands, villages, monasteries, groups of hunter-gatherers, ships at sea or a pharaoh's court. His first novel, Lord of the Flies (1954; film, 1963 and 1990, play, adapted by Nigel Williams, 1995), dealt with an unsuccessful struggle against barbarism and war, thus showing the ambiguity and fragility of civilization. It has also been said that it is allegoric to World War II. The Inheritors (1955) looked back into prehistory, advancing the thesis that humankind's evolutionary ancestors, "the new people" (generally identified with homo sapiens sapiens), triumphed over a gentler race (generally identified with Neanderthals) as much by violence and deceit as by natural superiority. 'The Spire' 1964 follows the building (and near collapse) of a huge spire onto a medieval abbey church, the church and the spire itself act as a potent symbols both of the abbot's highest spiritual aspirations and of his worldly vanities. 'Pincher Martin' his 1954 novel concerns the last moments of a sailor thrown into the north Atlantic after his ship is attacked. The structure is echoed by that of the later Booker Prize winning by Yann Martel 'Life of Pi'. The 1967 novel 'The Pyramid' is comprised of three separate stories linked by a common setting (a small English town in the 1920s) and narrator. 'The Scorpion God' (1971) is a volume of three short novels set in a prehistoric African hunter-gatherer band ('Clonk, Clonk'), an ancient Egyptian court ('The Scorpion God') and the court of a roman emperor ('Envoy Extraordinary'). The last of these is a reworking of his 1958 play 'The Brass Butterfly'. Allegory of Music by Filippino Lippi. ... For other uses, see Fiction (disambiguation). ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... For other uses, see Mythology (disambiguation). ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is... A Lord of the Flies cover Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author William G. Golding. ... The Inheritors is a 1955 novel by the British author William Golding, better known for Lord of the Flies. ... Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ... Binomial name Homo neanderthalensis King, 1864 The Neanderthal or Neandertal was a species of genus Homo (Homo neanderthalensis) that inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia from about 230,000 to 29,000 years ago (in the Middle Palaeolithic, early Stone Age). ...

Golding's later novels include Darkness Visible (1979), The Paper Men (1984), and the comic-historical sea trilogy To the Ends of the Earth (BBC TV 2005), comprising the Booker Prize-winning Rites of Passage (1980), Close Quarters (1987), and Fire Down Below (1989). For other uses, see Darkness Visible. ... To the Ends of the Earth is a trilogy of novels by William Golding, consisting of Rites of Passage (1980), Close Quarters (1987), and Fire Down Below (1989). ... The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known as the Man Booker Prize, or simply the Man Booker, is one of the worlds most important literary prizes, and awarded each year for the best original novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland in...

Cryptozoology

William Golding was also prominent among Loch Ness Monster theorists and wrote articles for Popular Science about the nature of this purported phenomenon.^{[citation needed]} For other uses, see Loch Ness Monster (disambiguation). ... This article is not about the magazine, Popular Science Popular science is interpretation of science intended for a general audience, rather than for other scientists or students. ...

Major works

• Poems (1934)
• Lord of the Flies (1954)
• The Inheritors (1955)
• Pincher Martin (1956)
• The Brass Butterfly (play) (1958)
• Free Fall (1959)
• The Spire (1964)
• The Hot Gates (essays) (1965)
• The Pyramid (1967)
• The Scorpion God (1971)
• Darkness Visible (1979)
• A Moving Target (essays) (1982)
• Nessie- The Legend (article) (1982)
• The Paper Men (1984)
• An Egyptian Journal (1985)
• To the Ends of the Earth (trilogy)
  • Rites of Passage (1980)
  • Close Quarters (1987)
  • Fire Down Below (1989)
• The Double Tongue (posthumous) (1996)

Poems was the first work by British novelist William Golding (better known for Lord of the Flies, among other novels). ... A Lord of the Flies cover Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author William G. Golding. ... The Inheritors is a 1955 novel by the British author William Golding, better known for Lord of the Flies. ... Pincher Martin (Faber and Faber 1956) is the third novel by William Golding (author of Lord of the Flies). ... Free Fall is the fourth novel of English novelist William Golding first published in 1959. ... The Spire is a 1964 novel by William Golding, who is better known for his novel Lord of the Flies. ... The Hot Gates is the title of a collection by William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies. ... A novel by the English author, William Golding. ... The Scorpion God is a short novel by William Golding, published in a collection of the same name, along with Clonk Clonk (1971) and Envoy Extraordinary (1956). ... For other uses, see Darkness Visible. ... For other uses, see nessie (disambiguation). ... To the Ends of the Earth is a trilogy of novels by William Golding, consisting of Rites of Passage (1980), Close Quarters (1987), and Fire Down Below (1989). ... To the Ends of the Earth is a trilogy of novels by William Golding, consisting of Rites of Passage (1980), Close Quarters (1987), and Fire Down Below (1989). ... To the Ends of the Earth is a trilogy of novels by William Golding, consisting of Rites of Passage (1980), Close Quarters (1987), and Fire Down Below (1989). ... To the Ends of the Earth is a trilogy of novels by William Golding, consisting of Rites of Passage (1980), Close Quarters (1987), and Fire Down Below (1989). ... The Double Tongue is a novel by William Golding. ...

See also

• Novels by William Golding

References

Oxford University Press (OUP) is a highly-respected publishing house and a department of the University of Oxford in England. ... The Double Tongue is a novel by William Golding. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 249th day of the year (250th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• The Spire a sixth form perspective at William Howard School
• Golding's Life and work reviewed at the Educational Paperback Association
• Biography of William Golding at the Nobel Prize website
• Interview by Mary Lynn Scott- Universal Pessimist, Cosmic Optimist
• Faber and Faber - UK publisher of William Golding
• William Golding Ltd Website of Golding family.
• Last Words An account of Golding's last evening by D.M. Thomas - Guardian - Saturday 10 June 2006 (Review Section)
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article by Kevin McCarron (online edn, May 2006), Golding, Sir William Gerald (1911–1993)