Raleigh Trevelyan
The Man & the Beard
William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies
By John Carey
Faber & Faber 586pp £20
Over twenty million copies of Lord of the Flies have been sold in this country. It is required reading in schools and it has been made into several films. So it could be true, as John Carey says, that a mention of the book sparks instant recognition for many in a way that William Golding’s name does not – hence the subtitle. Even so, what might have been Golding’s reaction? In the end he would probably not have been surprised. From early on he had longed for fame, but he always avoided publicity. When he heard that he was about to be awarded the Nobel Prize, he took out his horse for a solitary ride. Shy and private, he was also a self-examining, self-blaming man, conscious of what he considered to be the seeds of evil within him. Was that beard a form of protection?
For twenty-two years he kept a journal. In the family archives there are unpublished novels, projects and drafts. He suffered from nightmares and kept a dream diary. All this has been a treasure trove for his biographer. In the journal Golding reports on the progress of his writing,
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
London's East End was long synonymous with poverty and sweatshops, while its West End was associated with glamour and high society. But when it came to the fashion industry, were the differences really so profound?
Sharman Kadish - Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers
Sharman Kadish: Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers - Fashion City: How Jewish Londoners Shaped Global Style; Fashion City: ...
literaryreview.co.uk
In 1982, Donald Rumsfeld presented Saddam Hussein with a pair of golden spurs. Two decades later he was dropping bunker-busting bombs on his palaces.
Where did the US-Iraqi relationship go wrong?
Rory Mccarthy - The Case of the Vanishing Missiles
Rory Mccarthy: The Case of the Vanishing Missiles - The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the United States and the ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Barbara Comyns was a dog breeder, a house painter, a piano restorer, a landlady... And a novelist.
@nclarke14 on the lengths 20th-century women writers had to go to make ends meet:
Norma Clarke - Her Family & Other Animals
Norma Clarke: Her Family & Other Animals - Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence by Avril Horner
literaryreview.co.uk