"William Gerald Golding, b. Cornwall is a famous English novelist, an essayist and poet. He is also the winner of the 1983 Nobel Prize for literature. His allegorical fiction makes use of allusions to mythology, classical literature, and Christian symbolism.Though no distinct thread unites his novels and his technique varies, he deals principally with evil and emerges with what has been characterized as a kind of dark optimism. Golding's first novel, Lord of the Flies, introduced one of the recurrent themes of his fiction-the conflict between humanity's innate barbarism and the civilizing influence of reason. The Inheritors (1955) reaches into prehistory, advancing the thesis that humankind's evolutionary ancestors, "the fire-builders," triumphed over a gentler race as much by violence and deceit as by natural superiority. In Pincher Martin (1956) and Free Fall (1959), Golding explores fundamental problems of existence, such as survival and human freedom, using dreamlike narratives and flashbacks. The Spire (1964) is an allegory concerning the hero's obsessive determination to build a great cathedral spire regardless of the consequences. Golding's later novels have not won the praise his earlier works achieved. They include Darkness Visible (1979) and the historical trilogy Rites of Passage (1981), Close Quarters (1987), and Fire Down Below (1989). Golding studied English literature and philosophy at Oxford, served in the Royal Navy during World War II, and has been a schoolmaster and lecturer. In addition to his novels, he has published a play, The Brass Butterfly (1958); a book of verse, Poems (1934); and the essay collections The Hot Gates (1965) and A Moving Target (1982)."(http://www.levity.com/corduroy/golding.htm)
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