William Golding

William Golding was born in 1911 in Cornwall, where he also passed away in 1993. His father was a teacher, a profession that Golding himself eventually chose. He studied English literature at Oxford and, after a few attempts as a writer and actor, began working as a teacher. He married and had two children. During World War II, he served in the British Royal Navy, participating in operations such as the sinking of the "Bismarck," the largest German battleship, in 1940, and the Normandy landings. After being discharged in 1945, he summarized his war experiences by saying, "Man produces evil as a bee produces honey," and returned to teaching. Meanwhile, he wrote books, but none were published. Golding was 44 years old when, in 1954, "Lord of the Flies" was released. Its remarkable commercial success allowed him to leave teaching and devote himself entirely to writing. This was followed by works such as "The Inheritors" (1955), "Pincher Martin" (1956), "Free Fall" (1960), "The Spire" (1964), "Darkness Visible" (1979), "The Paper Men" (1984), and the trilogy: "Rites of Passage" (1980), which won the Booker Prize, "Close Quarters" (1987), and "Fire Down Below." After Golding's death, "The Double Tongue" was published in 1996. Golding's Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983 was a surprise, as the leading British candidate that year was considered to be Graham Greene (1904-1991).