William Golding (1911–1993)

Author of Lord of the Flies

95+ Works 62,177 Members 945 Reviews 57 Favorited

About the Author

William Golding was born in Cornwall, England on September 19, 1911. Although educated to be a scientist at the request of his father, he developed an interest in literature. At Oxford University, he studied natural science for two years and then transferred to a program for English literature and show more philosophy. He eventually became a schoolmaster at Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury. During World War II, he joined the Royal Navy and was involved in the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck. After the war, he returned to Bishop Wordsworth's School and taught there until 1962. His first novel, Lord of the Flies, was published in 1954 and was made into a film in 1963. His other novels include The Inheritors, Free Fall, The Spire, The Pyramid, The Paper Men, Close Quarters, and Fire down Below. He won the Booker Prize for Rites of Passage in 1980 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983. He also wrote plays, essays, and short stories. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1988. He died on June 19, 1993. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: Golding U., U. Golding, William Golding, William Golding, 윌리엄 골딩, Sir William Golding, William Gerald Golding, וילים גולדינג, Уильям Голдинг, ויליאם גולדינג, , ウィリアム・ゴールディング

Image credit: From Owen Barfield Website

Series

To the Ends of the Earth

Works by William Golding

Popular Recent

Lord of the Flies (1954) 51,562 copies, 754 reviews

The Inheritors (1955) 1,571 copies, 45 reviews

Rites of Passage (1980) 1,277 copies, 28 reviews

The Spire (1964) 1,187 copies, 17 reviews

Pincher Martin (1956) 918 copies, 23 reviews

Darkness Visible (1979) 698 copies, 11 reviews

Free Fall (1959) 622 copies, 3 reviews

Lord of the Flies (Casebook Edition Text Notes and Criticism) (1987) 477 copies, 2 reviews

The paper men (1984) 473 copies, 5 reviews

Close Quarters (1987) 375 copies, 7 reviews

Fire Down Below (1989) 363 copies, 6 reviews

The Pyramid (1967) 338 copies, 7 reviews

To the Ends of the Earth (1980) 305 copies, 2 reviews

The Scorpion God: Three Short Novels (1972) 301 copies, 8 reviews

Lord of the Flies: Golding William (1954) 285 copies, 1 review

The Double Tongue (1995) 266 copies, 6 reviews

Sometime, never : three tales of imagination (1971) 217 copies, 3 reviews

The Hot Gates (1965) 155 copies, 5 reviews

An Egyptian Journal (1985) 125 copies, 1 review

A Moving Target (1982) 97 copies, 1 review

William Golding's Lord of the Flies (1996) 67 copies, 1 review

William Golding's Lord of the Flies: Text, Notes & Criticism (1983) 57 copies, 3 reviews

Lord of the Flies (Penguin Study Notes) (1999) 50 copies

The Brass Butterfly: A Play in Three Acts (1969) 48 copies, 2 reviews

Lord of the Flies / Pincher Martin / Rites of Passage (1984) — Author — 43 copies, 1 review

William Goldings Lord of the Flies 40 copies, 1 review

William Golding Three Novels: Includes Pincher Martin, Free Fall, the Inheritors (1997) 38 copies

Lord of the flies (1954) 23 copies

William Golding: The Man and His Books - A Tribute on His 75th Birthday (1986) 17 copies

Lord of the flies c.25 17 copies

Kärbeste jumal ; Mereristsed : [romaanid] (1989) — Author — 14 copies

Lord of the Flies - Casebook Edition: Text, Notes & Criticism — Author — 11 copies

Lord of the flies (2006) 8 copies

Lord of the Flies (Abridged Audio Edition) (1979) 8 copies

Envoy Extraordinary (2006) 8 copies, 2 reviews

American Fiction 1914 to 1945 (Critical Cosmos) (1987) 8 copies

Novelas (1983) 7 copies

Penguin Study Notes: Lord of the Flies 6 copies

Elements of Literature: Lord of the Flies (1989) 6 copies

Lord of the Flies. Vokabularien (1999) 5 copies

Ceberut Martin (2018) 5 copies

Lord of the flies. The pyramid. Envoy extraordinary (1982) 5 copies

Le opere (1987) 4 copies

Lord of the Flies: FET Phase (X-Kit Literature Series) (2005) 4 copies

Novel Ideas Classic: Lord of the Flies: William Golding (1997) 3 copies

Herr der Fliegen (Graphic Novel). Limitierte Vorzugsausgabe: Nach dem Roman von William Golding (2024) 3 copies

Talk : Conversations with William Golding. (1970) 3 copies

Herr der Fliegen (Graphic Novel): Nach dem Roman von William Golding (2024) 3 copies

Lord of the Flies / The Pyramid 3 copies

Poems 2 copies

Sa Majeste des Mouches (Folio) by William Golding(1989-12-22) (1989) 2 copies

Nobel Lecture, 7 December 1983 (1984) 2 copies

Lord of the Flies: Paris the Great, the Complete Works of World Literature 19 (1999) 2 copies

The Spire / The Pyramid (1965) 2 copies

Lord of the Flies (Faber Educational Edition) by Golding. William ( 2012 ) Paperback 1 copy

The Art of the Critic: Literary Theory and Criticism from the Greeks to the Present (Vol. 2 Early Renaissance) (1986) 1 copy

SEÑOR DE LAS MOSCAS 1 copy

Mirasçılar (2024) 1 copy

Le opere 1 copy

William Golding's The spire (Religious dimensions in literature) 1 copy

lord of the flies volume 2 1 copy

Novelas 1 copy

lord of the flies volume 1 1 copy

אנשי הנייר 1 copy

Der Sondergesandte [Novelle] (1956) 1 copy

Çatal Dil 1 copy

WIDEVIEW/PERIGEE BOOKS 1 copy

Lord of the Flies [Mass Market Paperback] [1959] Reissue Ed. William Golding, E. L. Epstein 1 copy

Mušu valdnieks 1 copy

Vidna tema 1 copy

Tæt på (1988) 1 copy

Lord of the Flies, adapted and annotated for schools by G. van Veelo 1 copy

Lord of the flies : notes 1 copy

O Deus das Moscas — Author — 1 copy

Charles Baudelaire (Bloom's Modern Critical Views (Hardcover)) (1987) 1 copy

Lord Of The Flies William Golding: Inhalt, Hintergrund, Interpretation ; Auf Deutsch Mit Englischen… (2006) 1 copy

Sobranie sochinenii. Tom 2 (1999) — Author — 1 copy

Sobranie sochinenij. Tom 1 (1998) — Author — 1 copy

I premi Nobel per la letteratura. Jose ECHEGARAY. 1904. (1964) 1 copy

Lord of the Flies (Faber Educational Edition) by Golding. William ( 2012 ) Paperback (2012) 1 copy

Lord of the Flies (Teacher Guide Grades 9-12) (2019) 1 copy

Lord of the Flies Activity Pack (2001) 1 copy

1983 1 copy

Kâğıt Adamlar (2024) 1 copy

Arieka (DU MONDE ENTIER) (2001) 1 copy

Lord of the Flies: Novel-Ties Study Guide (1983) 1 copy

Pincher Martin: Faber Modern Classics by William Golding (2015-04-02) 1 copy

Clonk! Clonk! 1 copy

Nasljednici (2022) 1 copy

Lord of the Rings (1954) 1 copy

Señor de las moscas 1 copy

Miss Pulkinhorn 1 copy

The scorpion god (2004) 1 copy

Rare Antique A Moving Target William Golding Nobel Prize 1st Edition First Printing Essays [Hardcover] William Golding 1 copy

Повелитель мух Шпиль; Пирамида : Романы / Уильям Голдинг; [Пер. с… (1999) 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories (1989) — Contributor — 443 copies, 3 reviews

The Moral Life: An Introductory Reader in Ethics and Literature (1999) — Contributor — 187 copies, 2 reviews

The Graphic Canon, Vol. 3: From Heart of Darkness to Hemingway to Infinite Jest (2013) — Contributor — 152 copies, 1 review

Lord of the Flies [1963 film] (1963) — Original book — 133 copies, 3 reviews

The Norton Book of Travel (1987) — Contributor — 112 copies, 1 review

Lord of the Flies [1990 film] (1990) — Original novel — 53 copies, 2 reviews

James Joyce's Ulysses (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations) (1987) 37 copies

The Genius of the Later English Theater (1962) — Contributor — 36 copies

Deep Blue: Stories of Shipwreck, Sunken Treasure, and Survival (Adrenaline) (2001) — Contributor — 30 copies

Marcel Proust (Bloom's Modern Critical Views) (1987) 27 copies

Heyne Science Fiction Jahresband 1983. (1983) — Contributor — 17 copies

William Shakespeare's King Lear (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations) (1987) 17 copies

Nobel Writers on Writing (2000) — Contributor — 14 copies

A Hermit Disclosed (1985) — Foreword, some editions — 9 copies, 1 review

The Bedside 'Guardian' 30: A Selection from The Guardian, 1980-1981 (1981) — Introduction — 9 copies

Thomas Mann (Bloom's Modern Critical Views) (1986) — Author — 7 copies

Die englische Literatur 10 in Text und Darstellung. 20. Jahrhundert 2. (2001) — Contributor — 6 copies

William Golding: Some Critical Considerations (1978) — Preface — 4 copies

James Merrill (Bloom's Modern Critical Views) (1986) — Editor — 3 copies

The Art of the Critic: Literary Theory and Criticism from the Greeks to the Present (10-Volume Set) (1985) 3 copies

Charles Baudelaire (Bloom's Modern Critical Views) (1987) — Editor — 2 copies

Antaeus No. 35, Autumn 1979 — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

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Common Knowledge

Legal name: Golding, Sir William Gerald
Birthdate: 1911-09-19
Date of death: 1993-06-19
Burial location: Bowerchalke Village Churchyard, Bowerchalke, England, UK
Gender: male
Nationality: UK
Country (for map): England, UK
Birthplace: Newquay, Cornwall, England, UK
Place of death: Perranarworthal, England, UK
Cause of death: heart failure
Places of residence: Newquay, Cornwall, England, UK (birth)
Marlborough, Wiltshire, England, UK
Bowerchalke, Wiltshire, England, UK
Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, UK
Perranarworthal, England, UK (death)
Education: Oxford University (BA|1934 - Brasenose College)
Marlborough Grammar School
Occupations: novelist
teacher
sailor
Relationships: Golding, Alec (father)
Golding, Joseph (brother)
Curnoe, Mildred (mother)
Brookfield, Ann (wife)
Golding, Judith (daughter)
Golding, David (son) (show all 7)
Lovelock, James (friend and neighbour)
Organizations: Royal Navy (WWII)
Bishop Wordsworth's School
Awards and honors: Nobel Prize (1983)
Fellow, Royal Society of Literature
Commander, Order of the British Empire (1965)
Knight Bachelor (1988)
Booker Prize (1980)
James Tait Black Memorial Prize (1979) (show all 7)
Companion of Literature, Royal Society of Literature (1983)

Members

Discussions

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE - OCTOBER 2016 - ATKINSON & GOLDING in 75 Books Challenge for 2016 (October 2016)

British children abandoned on a deserted island - Fiction - forty or fifty years ago in Name that Book (February 2014)

Happy 100th to The Lord of the Fly in the Ointment, Sir William Golding in Nobel Laureates in Literature (March 2013)

Reviews

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

the horror, the horror.
I can't believe they let this loose on children

Flagged

dalet3 | 753 other reviews | Dec 28, 2024 |

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Always a great read. I couldn't help but thinking this time around that if our kids were to be stranded on an island during a school trip, they wouldn't do nearly as well food, shelter, fire-wise as these kids did because we no longer allow knives at school. I'm not saying we should allow knives; it's just the thought that kept running through my head.

Flagged

Wishbear83 | 753 other reviews | Dec 17, 2024 |

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Sorry evil talking pig head, you were not enough to save this novel!

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alicatrasi | 753 other reviews | Nov 28, 2024 |

Lord of the Flies (Penguin Great Books of the 20th… by William Golding

a very good book. The tension in it is so thick, you feel like you can see it. The build up to the final stages is an interesting roller coaster.
My husband and I mildly disagree on this book. He said he didn't think it was realistic. That kids would turn savage on an island.

I absolutely see this as real! the age is perfect that the boys would not fully comprehend just how drastic bad choices can affect you. And the perfect age to think you are indestructible. And "peer pressure" still has a very deep hold on them.

I really enjoyed this read!… (more)

Flagged

Trisha_Thomas | 753 other reviews | Nov 13, 2024 |

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