Golding’s novels transport the reader to distant but entirely believable worlds, grappling with the big questions of existence as he struggled with his addiction to alcohol and the fame his writing would bring him. His originality as a writer sometimes worked against him: Lord of the Flies was rejected by seven publishers before it was accepted by Charles Monteith at Faber, where it would go on to be glowingly reviewed and become a bestseller.
Born in Newquay in 1911, Golding spent his childhood in Wiltshire, and would serve in the Navy during the Second World War. Both the sea and his west country origins were always important to him: Judy speaks fondly of his connection to the county, a place he felt was ancient. It was Savernake Forest that inspired his setting for The Inheritors, his second novel, in which he imagines the first confrontation between the peace-loving Neanderthals and the more aggressive Homo Sapiens. After a poor reception from the critics for several of his following books, including both The Spire and The Pyramid, Golding was thrown into a deep depression. This crisis lasted over ten years, but when he finally returned to writing he went on to produce a series of successful novels – including Rites of Passage, winner of the 1980 Booker Prize. In 1983 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Golding was a fascinating and often troubled man, a voracious reader who enjoyed the Odyssey in Greek as well as Georgette Heyer and Jilly Cooper. He was an influence on many novelists from Stephen King to Penelope Lively: definitely a writer ripe for reappraisal.
The usual round of reading recommendations include South from Granada, Gerald Brenan’s account of the years he spent in an Andalusian village in the 1920s with visits from the Bloomsbury group; Robert Harris’s Precipice, a semi-fictional account of the relationship in 1914 between Prime Minister Asquith and Venetia Stanley, and Penelope Lively’s novel Passing On.
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William Golding, Lord of the Flies (3:02)
William Golding, The Inheritors (3:58)
William Golding, Rites of Passage (4:34)
William Golding, The Double Tongue (4:38)
Judy Golding, The Children of Lovers (15:37)
William Golding, Pincher Martin (25:35)
William Golding, The Spire (27:36)
William Golding, Darkness Visible (38:13)
James Lovelock, Gaia (43:20)
Homer, Odyssey (44:55)
Georgette Heyer, The Black Moth (45:08)
Jilly Cooper, Polo (45:25)
Gerald Brenan, South from Grenada (52:19)
Laurie Lee, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (52:47)
Robert Harris, Precipice (54:10)
Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger (56:39)
Penelope Lively, Passing On (56:45)
– Infinite Depths. . . , Penelope Lively on the novels of William Golding, Issue 7
– . . . and Tempests and Doldrums, Andrew Sinclair on the novels of William Golding, Issue 7
– Jocelin’s Folly, Andrew Joynes on William Golding, The Spire, Issue 71
– From World to World, Nick Hunt on William Golding, The Inheritors, Issue 83
Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major by Bach
Hosted by Rosie Goldsmith
Produced by Philippa Goodrich
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