“Lord of the Flies”

 Born in Cornwall in 1911  Educated at Marlborough Grammar School and at Brasenose College, Oxford.  Past and present occupations include being a schoolmaster, a lecturer, an actor, a sailor, and a musician.  His father was a schoolmaster  Mother was a suffragette – activist for women’s right to vote  He was brought up to be a scientist, but revolted.

 He spent five years at Oxford, studying Anglo- Saxon literature.  Published a volume of poems in  Taught at Bishop Wordsworth's School, Salisbury.  Joined the Royal Navy in 1940 and spent six years afloat  Finished as Lieutenant in command of a rocket ship.  He was present off the French coast for the D-Day invasion  After the war he returned to teaching, and began to write again.

 “Lord of the Flies” (1954)  “The Inheritors” (1955)  “The Spire” (1964)  “Rites of Passage” (1980)  “Fire down Below” (1989)

 He retired from teaching in After that, he lived in Wiltshire, listing his recreations as music, sailing, archaeology and classical Greek.  He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983  Knighted by the Queen of England in  William Golding died June 19, 1993.

 Setting – an uninhabited island during an unspecified nuclear war  Themes Conflicting human impulses to civilization Tensions between  Groupthink and individuality  Rational and emotional reactions  Morality and immorality