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Birth and family
He was born in Cornwall, England, in 1911.
His name is William Gerald Golding, mother's name is Mildred, and father's name is Alec. -
College at Oxford
Golding began attending Brasenose College at Oxford in 1930 and spent two years studying science, in deference to his father's beliefs. In his third year, however, he switched to the literature program, following his true interests. -
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Workings
Golding worked as a writer, actor, and producer with a small theater in an unfashionable part of London, paying his bills with a job as a social worker. He considered the theater his strongest literary influence, citing Greek tragedians and Shakespeare, rather than other novelists, as his primary influences. -
Marriage and Teaching
Golding began teaching English and philosophy in Salisbury at Bishop Wordsworth's School. That same year, he married Ann Brookfield, with whom he had two children. -
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Time in navy and revelations.
The five years Golding spent in the navy made an enormous impact, exposing him to the incredible cruelty and barbarity of which humankind is capable. Writing about his wartime experiences later, he asserted that "man produces evil, as a bee produces honey." Long before, while in college, he had lost faith in the rationalism of his father with its attendant belief in the perfectibility of humankind. -
Lord of the flies
In Lord of the Flies, which was published in 1954, Golding combined that perception of humanity with his years of experience with schoolboys. Although not the first novel he wrote, Lord of the Flies was the first to be published after having been rejected by 21 publishers. -
Being knighted
He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth 2. He was knighted for his novels "Lord of the Flies" and "Rites of Passage" which earned him the Nobel-Prize and the Booker Prize, respectively. -
Death
Golding died in Cornwall in 1993. He died from congestive heart failure.
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