William Golding: A Critical Study

by Mark Kinkead-Weekes, Ian Gregor

Book by Kinkead-Weekes, Mark, Gregor, Ian

Genres: Nonfiction, Literary Criticism

292 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Madeeha]

I only read the LOTF part but it was so hard to read idgaf it's going on my read shelf

[Sol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm actually only about halfway through this, but its been amazing so far. I'm really loving the structurally oriented readings of the novles, which was especially helpful for Free Fall and The Spire. These essays pointed out and clarified many small (but important) details in each of the novels that really bring their readings together. I found some of their conclusions a bit surprising or contentious, especially their reading of Jocelin's decline as comprising real redemption and the acquisition of the true knowledge he had lacked. I'd especially love to reread Pincher Martin and Free Fall through the lens of their analyses, but that'll have to wait. I'm only halfway through Golding's books and there are so many other things to read. I can't wait to finish the latter half of this once I've made it through the rest of Golding's oeuvre.

Feb 2020: Finally finished the whole book. The final chapter on "sight" is absolutely amazing, and it cleared up a lot of questions I had about several of Golding's works. But it also filled me with despair that I could ever get even half as much out of Golding's works as the writers of this volume. I'm still decades and decades (if ever) away from being able to "see".