Lord of the Flies By William Golding

William Golding

1911-1993

William Golding

•  Born in Cornwall, England

•  Encouraged to study science, and did so at Oxford

•  Revolted and started studying literature instead

•  Taught at a boys’ school in Salisbury

William Golding

�  In 1954, Golding published his first novel: Lord of the Flies

�  He wrote what he knew– the nature of schoolboys

�  He published later novels, which he liked much more than his first novel. In fact, later in his life he openly said he regretted ever writing Lord of the Flies

�  Was married and had children

Before “LOTF”

�  Fought in WWII (Royal Navy)

�  Witnessed D-Day invasion

�  Commanded a rocket ship and ordered destruction of many German vessels.

�  Profoundly impacted by his war experiences, and especially the dawn of nuclear warfare

�  Many believe you can draw parallels between characters in the book and major WWII political figures

More Golding Info

�  Alcoholic… the crazy kind

�  Film version of the movie in 1963 and again in 1990

�  Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983 for novels which “illuminate the human condition in the world of today.”

�  Campaigned for his own knighthood (which he received in 1988)

Important FYI

�  “Beelzebub” is an ancient word for “Satan”

�  Somewhere along the line, in its original form, it was translated to “Lord of the Flies” (Was the word the mistake or was the translation the mistake? Either way– everyone knew it meant “evil.”)

�  Yup, that’s an important thing to know.

“Important” Connection (at least in my book)

�  You may know “Beelzebub” from the lyrics of one of the top 10 greatest songs of all time: Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

Oh, and….

�  This is a conch.

Oh, and

�  According to the Cambridge dictionary (and confirmed by British friends), “to be taken short” or “to be caught short” means you have a sudden and urgent need to go poop, but it isn’t very convenient for you to do so.

(You learn something new every day!)

Oh, and…

�  Remember that we’re dealing with very proper, very snooty, very British upper-crust prep school boys. (These kids’ parents are the phoniest of phonies.) If one calls another “a slug” or something, that’s quite scandalous.