Novelist, born near Newquay, Cornwall, SW England, UK. He studied at Oxford, became a teacher, served in the navy in World War 2, then returned to teaching until 1961. Poems (1934) was followed by his first novel, Lord of the Flies (1954), widely considered to be one of the greatest English-language novels of the 20th-c. Other books quickly followed, such as The Inheritors (1955), Pincher Martin (1956), Free Fall (1959), and The Spire (1964), each confirming Golding's power to create contemporary myth. Later novels include Darkness Visible (1979) and the trilogy Rites of Passage (1980, Booker), Close Quarters (1987), Fire Down Below (1989), republished under the general title To The Ends of the Earth in 1991. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983, and knighted in 1988.
Sir William Gerald Golding (September 19, 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, poet, and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (1983), best known for his work Lord of the Flies.
Early life
Golding was born on 19 September 1911 in St. Columb Minor, Cornwall, England.
His father was a local school master and intellectual, who held radical convictions in politics and a strong faith in science. The family moved to Marlborough and Golding attended Marlborough Grammar School.
Marriage
He married Ann Brookfield, an analytical chemist, in 1939 and became a teacher of English and philosophy at Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury.
Military service
During World War II, Golding fought in the Royal Navy and was involved in the sinking of Germany's mightiest battleship, the Bismarck.
Writing success
In 1961, his successful books allowed Golding to leave his teaching post and spend a year as writer-in-residence at Hollins College in Virginia.
Death
Sir William Golding died of heart failure in his home at Perranarworthal, near Truro, Cornwall, on June 19, 1993.
Fiction
Golding's often allegorical fiction makes broad use of allusions to classical literature, mythology, and Christian symbolism. Golding's first novel, Lord of the Flies (1954; In Pincher Martin (1956) and Free Fall (1959), Golding explores fundamental problems of existence, such as survival and human freedom, using dreamlike narratives and flashbacks.
Golding's later novels include Darkness Visible (1979), The Paper Men (1984), and the historical sea trilogy To the Ends of the Earth which comprised the Booker Prize-winning Rites of Passage (1981), Close Quarters (1987), and Fire Down Below (1986).
User Comments Add a comment…