| British novelist Sir William Golding (1911-1993) is | | | | writing. Fortunately, his very first novel, The Lord |
| best known for his novel Lord of the Flies (1954), | | | | of the Flies (1954; motion picture by English |
| which depicts the descent into savagery of a | | | | director Peter Brook, 1963), became extremely |
| group of schoolboys deserted on a desert island. | | | | successful. And it is now considered one of the |
| He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1983. | | | | great works of 20th-century literature. |
| Golding was born at Saint Columb Minor in | | | | The novel is based on Golding's own wartime |
| Cornwall. He studied English literature at Brasenose | | | | experiences. It is basically the story of a group of |
| College at the University of Oxford. He also | | | | schoolboys marooned on a desert island after a |
| worked in the theater as a writer and actor for a | | | | plane crash. The novel serves as an allegory of |
| short time. He then became a trained teacher. He | | | | the inherent corruption of human nature. It |
| left this profession during World War II | | | | chronicles the boys' descent from a state of |
| (1939-1945), and served in the Royal Navy. | | | | innocence to one of barbarism. |
| After the war got over, Golding returned to | | | | |