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IT'S A BOY
William Golding was born on Sep. 19, 1911, in Saint Columb Minor, Cornwall. He was raised in a 14th-century house next door to a graveyard. His mother, Mildred, was an active suffragette who fought for women's right to vote. His father, Alex, worked as a schoolmaster. -
Attemption
William received his early eduacation at the school his father ran, Marlborough Grammar School. When William was just 12 years old, he attempted, unsuccessfully, to write a novel. He was frustrated as a kid and found an outlet in bullying his peers. Later in life, William would describe his childhood self as a brat, even going so far as to say, "I enjoyed hurting people." -
Poems
After primary school, WIlliam went on to attend Brasenose College at Oxford University. His father hoped he would become a scientist, but William opted to study English literature instead. In 1934, a year before he graduated, William published his first work, a book of poetry aptly entitled Poems. The collection was largely overlooked by critics. -
Which Path Do I Choose?
After college, Golding worked in settlement houses and the theater for a quite sometime. Eventually, he decided to follow in his father's footsteps. In 1935 Golding took a position teaching English and philosophy at Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury. Golding's experience teaching unruly young boys would later serve as an inspiration for his novel Lord of the Flies. -
Pew pew pow
He temporarily left teaching in 1940 to join the Royal Navy. Before he left teaching, he taught English and Philosophy in Salisbury. -
World War II
Of his World War II experiences, Golding had said, "I began to see what people were capable of doing. Anyone who moved through those years without understanding that man produces evil as a bee produces honey, must have been blind or wrong in the head." Like his teaching experience, Golding's participations in the war would prove to be fruitful material for his fiction. In 1945, after World War II had ended, Golding went back to teaching and writing. -
My First Book
In 1954 he published his first novel, Lord of the Flies. He obtained the inspiration from teaching "unruly young boys." -
Too Old for This
In 1963, the year after Golding retired from teaching, Peter Brook made a film adaption of the critically acclaimed novel. Two decades later, at the age of 73, that was when Golding was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize for Literature. In 1988, he was then knighted by the England's Queen ELizabeth II -
IT'S A NOBEL
In 1983, he was awarded the Nobel Prize fo Literature. His books became so rapidly successful it became a world success and has so remained to be. -
Farewell
On June 19, 1993, Golding died of a heart attack in Perranarworthal, Cornwall. He was survived by his wife and their two children, David and Judith. After Gollding passed away, his completed manuscript for The Double Tongue was published posthumously.
