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William Golding


Born
in Newquay, Cornwall, England
September 19, 1911

Died
June 19, 1993

Website

Genre

Influences


Sir William Gerald Golding was an Engish novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel Lord of the Flies (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980, he was awarded the Booker Prize for Rites of Passage, the first novel in what became his sea trilogy, To the Ends of the Earth. He was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Literature.

As a result of his contributions to literature, Golding was knighted in 1988. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 2008, The Times ranked Golding third on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
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Average rating: 3.7 · 3,332,107 ratings · 75,824 reviews · 154 distinct worksSimilar authors
Lord of the Flies

3.70 avg rating — 3,298,585 ratings — published 1954 — 20 editions
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Lord of the Flies: The Grap...

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4.29 avg rating — 5,769 ratings — published 2024
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The Inheritors

3.51 avg rating — 5,928 ratings — published 1955 — 149 editions
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Rites of Passage (To the En...

3.57 avg rating — 4,585 ratings — published 1980
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The Spire

3.50 avg rating — 4,380 ratings — published 1964 — 2 editions
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Pincher Martin

3.55 avg rating — 2,698 ratings — published 1956 — 56 editions
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Darkness Visible

3.50 avg rating — 1,811 ratings — published 1979 — 56 editions
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Free Fall

3.67 avg rating — 1,540 ratings — published 1959 — 115 editions
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The Double Tongue

3.45 avg rating — 1,194 ratings — published 1995 — 16 editions
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The Pyramid

3.31 avg rating — 1,119 ratings — published 1967 — 63 editions
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More books by William Golding…
Rites of Passage Close Quarters Fire Down Below
(3 books)
by
3.67 avg rating — 6,423 ratings

Quotes by William Golding  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us.”
William Golding, Lord of the Flies

“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.”
William Golding, Lord of the Flies

“My yesterdays walk with me. They keep step, they are gray faces that peer over my shoulder.”
William Golding

Polls

'If you went too near the edge of the chalk-pit the ground would give way. Barney had been told this often enough.'

This is the first line of what book?

 
  10 votes, 45.5%

 
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  1 vote, 4.5%

 
  1 vote, 4.5%

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