The life of William Golding
Golding was born in Cornwall. He also spent his final years in the county.
William Golding was born in his grandmother's house at 47 Mountwise, Newquay,
Cornwall in 1911.
Apart from writing, his other occupations included being a schoolmaster, a lecturer, an
actor, a sailor, and a musician.
In 1953, William Golding was a provincial schoolteacher, writing books in his breaks, lunch
hours and holidays.
Golding had been brought up to be a scientist, but he revolted.
Even though his first poems were published in 1935, it
was more than 20 years before his novels became world
famous.
William Golding's work had been rejected by every
publisher he sent it to - until an editor at Faber pulled his
manuscript off the rejection pile.
This was to become Lord of the Flies, a book that would
sell in its millions and bring Golding worldwide
recognition.
A younger William Golding around the
time of Lord of the Flies
In 1980 William Golding won the 'Booker Prize' for his novel Rites of Passage. He retired
from teaching in 1962. After that, he lived in Wiltshire, listing his recreations as music,
sailing, archaeology and classical Greek.
Golding won the Nobel Prize in Literature 1983.
William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies is a
new biography which dips into items that have never
before been made public.
Through hundreds of letters, unpublished works and
Golding's private diaries, John Carey draws a revelatory
and definitive portrait of an extraordinary man.
He reveals a Golding as a many-sided figure: a war-hero,
a reclusive depressive who considered himself a
'monster', a family man, a victim of fears and phobias
who battled against alcoholism, and a writer who trusted
Tullimaar House in Cornwall was the
home of William Golding in his final
years
the imagination above all things.
When William Golding was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983, the Nobel
Foundation cited:
"His novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and
universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today."
Golding wrote several books during his life time, but its fair to say Lord of the Flies totally
over-shadowed all his other novels. He even wrote a travel book about Egypt.
At the time of his death, William Golding left a journal of more than two million words,
which included his daily thoughts over a 20 year period.
Biographer John Carey will be coming to Cornwall in late January to reveal more about
William Golding.
John's talk is part of the University of Exeter's annual William Golding Memorial Lecture
which will be held at the Tremough Campus on Tuesday 26 January at 6pm.
The William Golding Lecture is free of charge and open to members of the public, who are
requested to register via email wgoldinglecture@exeter.ac.uk