William Golding: From Schoolmaster to Literary Titan
Sir William Gerald Golding CBE FRSL (19 September 1911 - 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel Lord of the Flies (1954), Golding published another 12 volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980, Golding was awarded the Booker Prize for Rites of Passage, the first novel in what became his sea trilogy, To the Ends of the Earth.
Early Life and Education
William Golding was born on 19 September 1911 at his maternal grandmother's house, 47 Mount Wise, Newquay, Cornwall. The house was known as Karenza, the Cornish word for love, and he spent many childhood holidays there. The Golding family lived at 29, The Green, Marlborough, Wiltshire, and Golding and his elder brother Joseph attended the school where their father taught.William received his early education at the school his father ran, Marlborough Grammar School. When William was just 12 years old, he attempted, unsuccessfully, to write a novel. A frustrated child, he 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.”
His father, Alec Golding, was a science master at Marlborough Grammar School (from 1905 until his retirement), and his mother, Mildred (née Curnoe), was a campaigner for female suffrage.
Golding took his B.A. As a student, William Golding was initially unhappy at Oxford. He was not as well-off as many undergraduates and his studies were a financial strain on his family. Golding also did not enjoy his chosen subject of study: Natural Sciences. However, things began to look up for him in 1932 when he transferred into English Literature, a subject more to his liking. He went on to achieve a 2nd class degree. Golding was apparently sufficiently fond of Brasenose to return to the College for a Diploma in Education in 1937.
After two years at Oxford he read English literature instead, and became devoted to Anglo-Saxon. He spent five years at Oxford. Published a volume of poems in 1935. 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.
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The Archives hold a copy of the batels bill Brasenose sent Golding in 1938, listing various charges students would have paid at the time, such as for coal and the Junior Common Room stamp account. In his reply to the College about the bill, Golding writes that, while his father had vouched to pay for his studies, Golding wishes to pay this bill himself - he just needs a little more time to save up enough money. In the letter, Golding remarks that he ‘feel[s] personally (…) that B.N.C. can afford to wait longer for repayment than [my father] can’.
Aside from such established facts, Golding’s time at Brasenose is somewhat of a mystery. The short article ‘Tempora Labuntur’ in Volume 23 of The Brazen Nose (1988) seems to offer some clues. It contains the reminiscences of Edgar W. Parsons, based on the diary he kept while he was an undergraduate at BNC in the 1930s. Parsons recounts his memories of William Golding as a fellow undergraduate. He recalls that Golding, himself, and a few other undergraduates made up a group of BNC friends that would frequently meet. According to Parsons, Golding was known as ‘Bill’ and would invite students to his College rooms where he recited poetry. Parsons recalls Golding being an active member of the BNC Music Society, on one occasion proposing the motion ‘That Opera is a Bastard Art’ for debate at a Society meeting (the motion lost). Golding also played for the College ‘rugger’ [i.e. rugby] team. On November 5, 1932, Golding, who had been taking flying lessons, confided to his friends during Hall that he was almost ready for his first solo flight. On November 18, 1933, Parsons recounts that he and some friends received their degrees in the Sheldonian Theatre, after which Golding gave a party in his room above the old Senior Common Room. The party broke for supper in Hall, and reconvened in Golding’s room afterwards, where he recited from his new book Poems and handed out copies. Parsons dubbed it a ‘memorable evening’, and recalls how they had all finished a large bottle of crème de menthe by the time Golding had finished reading out his poetry at 1:00 am. Edgar W.
We find in the Brasenose Archives, however, that soon after these recollections appeared in The Brazen Nose, Golding wrote a letter to the editor, Desmond Bagguley, disputing the account. Golding surprisingly stated he did not remember Edgar W. Parsons and that, as undergraduates called each other by their last names, he was never known as ‘Bill’ while at Oxford. He declared that he did not read his poems to his fellow undergraduates, nor give them copies of his book, Poems. He affirmed that he left Oxford in the summer of 1934, and the book was not published until November of that year. Golding suggested Parsons had mistaken him with another Brasenose undergraduate known for his poetry at the time, or with another student at the College whose last name was Bill (this was John Herbert Bill.) He particularly rejected the suggestion in the published reminiscences that Golding had paid for Poems to be published.
William Golding is ruefully amused to read this account of his youthful antics: but wishes to assure the members of the College that he was too mean to publish anything at his own expense. Messrs MacMillan paid him five pounds for his verses and have never got their money back.(This note ended up in a footnote in Volume 24 of The Brazen Nose on p. The Archives, however, also contain Parsons’ original correspondence with Bagguley in the lead-up to the publication of his college memories, and here the mystery thickens. Parsons originally told Bagguley that Golding had given him an advance copy of Poems (which would potentially explain how Parsons acquired it in 1933 prior to publication), and that, in fact, Parsons remained in possession of that very same copy! Parsons explained to Bagguley that he needed to sell his copy of Poems in order to pay for family medical expenses, and thus could not donate it to the College. However, he painstakingly made a replica of the book and sent it to Bagguely so that Brasenose could have a copy. The correspondence between Parsons and Bagguley also reveals that, while some of Parsons’ reminiscences ended up in The Brazen Nose, his original letter to the editor contains more detail. Parsons recounts how fellow undergraduate Adam Bittleston introduced him to Golding in 1931. Interestingly, the passages that Parsons quotes directly from his diary refer to William Golding as ‘Golding’, not as ‘Bill’. He also writes that it was a party of three to which Golding gave the advance copies of Poems on that night in November 1933. These three, Parsons writes, were himself, C.G. Allen (another undergraduate), and possibly Adam Bittleston, although Parsons is not sure. Another interesting fact is that Parsons’ ‘Tempora Labuntur’ recalls Golding’s rooms as being above the old Senior Common Room, and the Archives’ Room Books show us that in November 1933, Golding was residing in Staircase I, Room 8, which would effectively be above the former SCR. Further, Golding seems to have had a bit of a foggy memory when he was asked about his days at BNC in an interview in 1986 (Crook p.
This all leaves us with quite a puzzle. Both Parsons and Golding seem sincere in their recollections of their time at Oxford, but their accounts clash with each other! Fortunately, there is a decisive piece of evidence: a letter sent by Golding’s Brasenose friend, Adam Bittleston, to Macmillan Publishers about Poems (Macmillan Archive, University of Reading Special Collections, MAC BIT 152/41). In the letter, Bittleston, who had submitted the manuscript of Poems to Macmillan on his friend’s behalf, writes that Golding accepts Macmillan’s offer to publish the manuscript of Poems which the publisher has in their possession. Parsons, therefore, evidently erred in his recollections. While Golding might have recited his poems to his Brasenose friends on November 18, 1933, he cannot have handed out copies of the book. Perhaps the large bottle of crème de menthe that was consumed on the evening clouded Parsons’ memory.
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Teaching Career
After college, Golding worked in settlement houses and the theater for a time. Eventually, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps. In 1935, Golding took a job teaching English at Michael Hall School, a Steiner-Waldorf school then in Streatham, South London, staying there for two years. After a year in Oxford studying for a Diploma of Education, he became a schoolmaster, teaching English and music at Maidstone Grammar School from 1938 to 1940, before moving to Bishop Wordsworth's School, Salisbury, in April 1940. There, Golding taught English, philosophy, Greek, and drama until joining the navy on 18 December 1940, reporting for duty at HMS Raleigh. Golding’s experience teaching unruly young boys would later serve as inspiration for his novel Lord of the Flies.
He retired from teaching in 1962.
War Service
Although passionate about teaching from day one, in 1940 Golding temporarily abandoned the profession to join the Royal Navy and fight in World War II.During World War II, Golding joined the Royal Navy in 1940. He served on a destroyer which was briefly involved in the pursuit and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck. Additionally, Golding participated in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, commanding a landing craft that fired salvoes of rockets onto the beaches. Golding spent the better part of the next six years on a boat, except for a seven-month stint in New York, where he assisted Lord Cherwell at the Naval Research Establishment. While in the Royal Navy, Golding developed a lifelong romance with sailing and the sea.
While in the Royal Navy, Golding developed a lifelong romance with sailing and the sea. During World War II, he fought battleships at the sinking of the Bismarck, and also fended off submarines and planes. Lieutenant Golding was even placed in command of a rocket-launching craft. Of his World War II experiences, Golding has 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 participation 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.
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Literary Career
In 1954, after 21 rejections, Golding published his first and most acclaimed novel, Lord of the Flies. The novel told the gripping story of a group of adolescent boys stranded on a deserted island after a plane wreck. Lord of the Flies explored the savage side of human nature as the boys, let loose from the constraints of society, brutally turned against one another in the face of an imagined enemy. Riddled with symbolism, the book set the tone for Golding’s future work, in which he continued to examine man’s internal struggle between good and evil. Since its publication, the novel has been widely regarded as a classic, worthy of in-depth analysis and discussion in classrooms around the world.
Golding kept a personal journal for over 22 years from 1971 until the night before his death; it contained approximately 2.4 million words in total. The journal was initially used by Golding to record his dreams, but over time it began to function as a record of his life. The journals contained insights including retrospective thoughts about Golding's novels and memories from his past.
In September 1953, after rejections from seven other publishers, Golding sent a manuscript to Faber and Faber and was initially rejected by their reader, Jan Perkins, who labelled it as "Rubbish & dull. Pointless". However, Golding's book was championed by Charles Monteith, a new editor at the firm. After moving in 1958 from Salisbury to nearby Bowerchalke, Golding met his fellow villager and walking companion James Lovelock.
Golding's first novel, Lord of the Flies (1954; film, 1963 and 1990; play, adapted by Nigel Williams, 1995), describes a group of boys stranded on a tropical island descending into a lawless and increasingly wild existence before being rescued. The Inheritors (1955) depicts a tribe of gentle Neanderthals encountering modern humans, who by comparison are deceitful and violent. His 1956 novel Pincher Martin records the thoughts of a drowning sailor. Free Fall (1959) explores the question of freedom of choice. The novel's narrator, a World War Two soldier in a German POW Camp, endures interrogation and solitary confinement. After these events and while recollecting the experiences, he looks back over the choices he has made, trying to trace precisely where he lost the freedom to make his own decisions.
Golding's 1967 novel, The Pyramid, consists of three linked stories with a shared setting in a small English town based partly on Marlborough where Golding grew up. The Scorpion God (1971) contains three novellas, the first set in an ancient Egyptian court ("The Scorpion God"); the second describing a prehistoric African hunter-gatherer group ("Clonk, Clonk"); and the third in the court of a Roman emperor ("Envoy Extraordinary"). The last of these, originally published in 1956, was reworked by Golding into a play, The Brass Butterfly, in 1958. From 1971 to 1979, Golding published no novels. After this period he published Darkness Visible (1979): a story involving terrorism, paedophilia, and a mysterious figure who survives a fire in the Blitz and appears to have supernatural powers.
In 1980, Golding published Rites of Passage, the first of his novels about a voyage to Australia in the early nineteenth century. The novel won the Booker Prize in 1980 and Golding followed this success with Close Quarters (1987) and Fire Down Below (1989) to complete his 'sea trilogy', later published as one volume entitled To the Ends of the Earth.
Awards and Recognition
Golding won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Darkness Visible in 1979, and the Booker Prize for Rites of Passage in 1980.
In 1963, the year after Golding retired from teaching, Peter Brook made a film adaptation of the critically acclaimed novel. Two decades later, at the age of 73, Golding was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize for Literature. In 1988 he was knighted by England’s Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1990 a new film version of the Lord of the Flies was released, bringing the book to the attention of a new generation of readers.
Personal Life
Golding was engaged to Mollie Evans, a woman from Marlborough, who was well liked by both of his parents. However, he broke off the engagement and married Ann Brookfield, an analytical chemist, on 30 September 1939. In 1985, Golding and his wife moved to a house called Tullimaar in Perranarworthal, near Truro, Cornwall.
John Carey mentions several instances of Golding's binge drinking in his biography, including Golding's experiences in 1963.
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