William Golding, Lord of the Flies

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Golding’s debut novel was not the first he had written and followed on from unsuccessful attempts to get three earlier novels published. It is well known that he had great trouble placing even this work, which was sent to publishing houses under the title “Strangers from Within”. Also, at the press which finally published both

Lord of the Flies

and subsequently the rest of Golding’s works, Faber and Faber, the manuscript was initially marked for rejection by the in-house reader and only rescued from the return pile by Charles Monteith, the editor who would become Golding’s friend and mentor.

Golding’s finished novel, twelve chapters long, is a series of dramatic tableaux that almost seem to be stages of an argument. The book has sharply drawn characters, intense and charged

2355 words

Citation: Childs, Peter. "Lord of the Flies". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 February 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3868, accessed 19 March 2024.]

3868 Lord of the Flies 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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