William Golding, a renowned British novelist, was born on September 19, 1911, in Saint Columb Minor, England. His father, Alex Golding, was a schoolmaster and his mother, Mildred Golding, an active member of the suffragette movement. Raised in a small house near a 14th-century graveyard, Golding was exposed to literature at an early age, which sparked his interest in writing. He started writing when he was seven years old.
Golding's academic journey began with a focus on sciences at Oxford, but he later changed his emphasis to English, particularly Anglo-Saxon literature. His educational background, combined with his experience in the Royal Navy during World War II, significantly influenced his writing style and subject matter. After serving for five years, Golding left the Navy and embarked on a teaching career, which also played a crucial role in shaping his literary works.
William Golding is best known for his novel "Lord of the Flies" (1954), which garnered significant attention from college students in the 1950s and 1960s, eventually catching the interest of literary critics. His dark and thought-provoking novels, such as "The Inheritors," "The Free Fall," "Pincher Martin," and "The Double Tongue," have earned him a reputation as a master of dark, psychological narratives. Golding's work was recognized with prestigious awards, including the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983 and the Booker Prize for his novel "Rites of Passage" in 1980, the first book of the trilogy "To the Ends of the Earth". In 2008, The Times ranked Golding third on their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". Golding died of a heart attack in Perranarworthal, Cornwall, England, survived by his wife and their two children.