Lord of the Flies

Born in Cornwall, England, in 1911 and educated at Oxford University, William Gerald Golding's first book,Poems, was published in 1935. Following a stint in the Royal Navy and other diversions during and after World War II, Golding wroteLord of the Flieswhile teaching school. This was the first of several novels includingPincher Martin,Free Fall,andThe Inheritorsand a play,The Brass Butterfly, which led to his being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983.Edward Morgan Forsterwas born in London in 1879, attended Tonbridge School as a day boy, and went on to King’s College, Cambridge, in 1897. With King’s he had a lifelong connection and was elected to an Honorary Fellowship in 1946. He declared that his life as a whole had not been dramatic, and he was unfailingly modest about his achievements. Interviewed by the BBC on his eightieth birthday, he said:‘I have not written as much as I’d like to . . . I write for two reasons: partly to make money and partly to win the respect of people whom I respect . . . I had better add that I am quite sure I am not a great novelist.’ Eminent critics and the general public have judged otherwise and in his obituaryThe Timescalled him‘one of the most esteemed English novelists of his time’.

The 50th Anniversary Edition of the Lord of the Flies is the volume that every fan of this classic book will have to own!Lord of the Flies remains as provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, igniting passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. Though critically acclaimed, it was largely ignored upon its initial publication. Yet soon it became a cult favorite among both students and literary critics who compared it to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye in its influence on modern thought and literature.Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies has established itself as a true classic. And now readers can own it in a beautifully designed hardcover edition worthy of its stature.