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Golding's Birth
William Gerald Golding was born in Cornwall, England, in 1911. His parents were Mildred and Alec Golding. -
Education
Golding attended Brasenose College at Oxford in 1930 which as the same school his father taught at. He spent two years studying science, but switched to the literature program because he dreamed of writing poetry. -
Graduation
In 1935, he graduated from Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a diploma in education. This was just the start of his life as a writer. -
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Career
William Golding worked as a writer, actor, and producer with a small theater in an unfashionable part of London. He paid his bills with a job as a social worker. -
Career and Marrige
In 1939, Golding began teaching English and philosophy in Salisbury at Bishop Wordsworth's School. That same year, he married Ann Brookfield, with whom he had two children. -
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Particiption in WWll
He spent five years in the Royal Navy during World War II. This made a huge impact, exposing him to the incredible cruelty and barbarity of which humankind is capable. -
Lord of the Flies Published
In Golding's novel "Lord of the Flies", he combined that perception of humanity with his years of experience with schoolboys.The boys loyal to the ways of civilization face persecution by the boys indulging in their innate aggression. As such, the novel illustrates the failure of the rationalism espoused by Golding's father. -
Rewarded for Hard Work
Even though Golding faced 21 rejections when getting his novel published, he persevered and it paid off. Following the publication of his best-known work, Lord of the Flies, Golding was granted membership in the Royal Society of Literature in 1955. -
Death
Golding spent the last few years of his life quietly living with his wife, Ann Brookfield, at their house near Falmouth, Cornwall, where he continued writing. On June 19, 1993, Golding died of a heart attack in Perranarworthal, Cornwall.