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William Golding (1911-93)
Who?
A true craftsman at creating stories of the dark side of human nature, he also wrote plays, essays and poems. The Lord of the Flies, about the increasingly cruel behaviour of a group of shipwrecked schoolboys on a desert island after a nuclear war, brought him fame and became a shocking landmark of the period.
Must reads
The Lord of the Flies (1954), The Inheritors (1955), Pincher Martin (1956), Free Fall (1959), The Spire (1964), The Pyramid (1967), Darkness Visible (1979), The Paper Men (1984) and his trilogy – Rites of Passage (1980), Close Quarters (1987) and Fire Down Below (1989).
Darkest hour
Serving in the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
Greatest triumph
Being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1983 and being knighted.
Essential quotes
'Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.' (Lord of the Flies)
'Eighteen is a good time for suffering. One has all the necessary strength, and no defences.' (The Pyramid)
'Philip is a living example of natural selection. He was as fitted to survive in this modern world as a tapeworm in an intestine.' (Free Fall)
Gossip
William Gerald Golding disowned his first published book, Poems (1934).
Film versions
Lord of the Flies was made into a film in 1963 and again in 1990.
What to say
His writing, although often varied in setting, frequently presents people in their most basic condition and struggling against extreme situations.
Don't say
I'd love to go on holiday to a desert island.
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