William Golding
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
William Golding
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1983
Born: 19 September 1911, Newquay, St Columb Minor (now Newquay), United Kingdom
Died: 19 June 1993, Perranarworthal, United Kingdom
Residence at the time of the award: United Kingdom
Prize motivation: “for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today”
Language: English
Prize share: 1/1
Life
William Golding was born in Cornwall, England. He began studies in the natural sciences at the University of Oxford, but soon abandoned them to instead devote himself to English literature. For several years he worked as a teacher before enlisting in the British Navy in 1940. Golding took part in several battles during World War II, and his wartime experiences are reflected in several of his novels. When he was still a child, he decided to become a writer, but his first novel, Lord of the Flies, was not published until he was 43.
Work
William Golding’s debut came in 1934 with the poetry collection Poems. After World War II, he began working on the Lord of the Flies novel, which was published in 1954 after several rejections. The book was widely read throughout the world, and today it continues to be a work that has inspired popular culture in several ways. Golding’s novels are often framed by a tale of adventure, while they explore the human capacity to transform what is good and constructive into something malicious and destructive.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
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