tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89319691542939890652024-02-19T16:38:26.286+00:00William GoldingTim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-74736435579870122802011-09-19T09:38:00.003+01:002011-09-19T09:54:40.566+01:00William Golding Centenary Round-Up<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN7EICGhLskEZl72NMkrrf6_tdEWsvcRrWizRSMoXYijpDj-aAMTOLofsgza7js15U9TvHLWry8fD3zRHr-9AB3Xxsz8GF11f1F00ajareBi1isQr22ca-hRBoWj4s0QwN8JwiblVKtU0/s1600/Golding+100th_Birthday_Cake.gif"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 271px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 297px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653991276852449490" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN7EICGhLskEZl72NMkrrf6_tdEWsvcRrWizRSMoXYijpDj-aAMTOLofsgza7js15U9TvHLWry8fD3zRHr-9AB3Xxsz8GF11f1F00ajareBi1isQr22ca-hRBoWj4s0QwN8JwiblVKtU0/s320/Golding+100th_Birthday_Cake.gif" /></a>On this day 100 years ago, William Golding was born in Newquay, Cornwall. To celebrate his life and work, the Cornwall Campus at the University of Exeter hosted a three-day conference, which culminated in a visit to Golding's home at Perranarworthal.<br /><br />There have been various publications to mark the centenary. Faber has reissued the novels with introductions (Stephen King on <em>Lord of the Flies</em>, John Carey on <em>The Inheritors</em>, etc.). This weekend, two of my old tutors, Craig Raine and Peter Conrad, have published essays on <em><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/16/william-golding-spire-craig-raine">The Spire</a></em> and <em><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/17/lord-of-the-flies-golding-centenary">Lord of the Flies </a></em>respectively<em>. A</em>nd <em>The Guardian</em> is now running <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2011/sep/16/new-cover-lord-flies-competition?intcmp=239">a competition to design a new cover</a> for<em> Flies</em>. Starting tonight, and for the rest of the week, Radio 3 will be broadcasting essays on Golding's novels.Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-74401471117930316522011-08-13T08:32:00.004+01:002011-08-13T08:44:24.279+01:00William Golding Centenary Conference Registration Deadline<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtjhrvrSpKTZHzes1cCcv9ObGccSxVfI7qqN6ujeTico5I4LiWzk05lWrsd-T9PDaMMA9FaO-osE9z3uqtakUoo8UTCgsn6Ci4RmvhyphenhypheniVIRhyphenhyphenf8cGz4kJY3IPTYWZVuAtG8XQeB7RFjCQ/s1600/tremough.bmp"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 192px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 86px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640242742261998210" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtjhrvrSpKTZHzes1cCcv9ObGccSxVfI7qqN6ujeTico5I4LiWzk05lWrsd-T9PDaMMA9FaO-osE9z3uqtakUoo8UTCgsn6Ci4RmvhyphenhypheniVIRhyphenhyphenf8cGz4kJY3IPTYWZVuAtG8XQeB7RFjCQ/s400/tremough.bmp" /></a>The registration deadline for the William Golding Centenary Conference is fast approaching. If you would like to attend, you can find all the necessary information and paperwork <a href="http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/research/conferences/golding/">here</a>. I include the latest schedule of talks and events below. Highlights include plenary lectures by Judy Golding and John Carey, and a tour of the Golding family home.
<br />
<br /><strong>The William Golding Centenary Conference
<br />Centre For South West Writing
<br />University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus
<br />16-18 September, 2011
<br />
<br />Friday 16 September, 2011
<br /></strong>
<br />2-3pm Registration and Coffee (Refectory)
<br />
<br /><div>
<br />3-3.30pm Welcome Address (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House) </div>
<br /><div>
<br />3.30-4.30pm Plenary Address (1): Judy Golding (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
<br /></div>
<br /><div>4.30-6pm Presentations (1): <em>Lord of the Flies</em> (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
<br />Nick Groom (University of Exeter): ‘Rings and Flies: Lords of ’54’
<br />Yasunori Sugimura (Otaru University of Commerce): ‘Environmental Destruction and Self-Destruction in William Golding’s <em>Lord of the Flies</em>’ </div>
<br />
<br /><div>6-8pm Wine Reception (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House) </div>
<br />
<br /><div>8pm Dinner (Refectory)
<br />
<br /><strong>Saturday 17 September, 2011
<br /></strong>
<br />9-10.30am Presentations (2): Biography and Reputation (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
<br />John Cox: ‘William Golding at Bishop Wordsworth School’
<br />Nicola Presley (University of Exeter)): ‘The Enduring Influence of William Golding in Popular Culture’
<br />Sandra Josipović (University of Belgrade): ‘The Reception of William Golding’s Work in Serbian Literary Criticism’ </div>
<br />
<br /><div>10.30-11am Tea and Biscuits (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House) </div>
<br /><div>
<br />11-12.30pm Presentations (3): Early Fiction (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
<br />Charlotte Sleigh (University of Kent): ‘“There is another smell of a nobody”: William Golding and the man who wasn’t there’
<br />Terrell Carver (University of Bristol): ‘Hobbes vs Locke in <em>Lord of the Flies</em>, or Where Did
<br />Ralph Go Wrong?’
<br />Miles Leeson (University of Portsmouth): ‘Fall Out: The impact of Hitler on the early fiction of William Golding and Iris Murdoch’ </div>
<br />
<br /><div>12.30-2pm Buffet Lunch (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House) </div>
<br />
<br /><div>2-3.30pm Presentations (4): <em>Pincher Martin</em> and <em>The Spire </em>(Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
<br />Mark Rawlinson (University of Leicester): ‘<em>Pincher Martin</em> and Narratives of the Second World War at Sea’
<br />Virginia Tiger (Rutgers University): ‘Back to the Beginning, On to the End: A Rhetorical Analysis of <em>Pincher Martin</em> and <em>Fire Down Below</em>’
<br />Kazunari Miyahara (Yamaguchi University): ‘Pride and Prejudice of Readers in and of <em>The Spire</em>’ </div>
<br />
<br /><div>3.30-4pm Tea and Biscuits (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House)
<br /></div>
<br /><div>4-5.30pm Presentations (5): <em>Darkness Visible</em> and Visionary Experience (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
<br />Nadia D’Amelio (University of Mons): ‘Holy Geometry in Golding’s Darkness Visible’
<br />Roger Kojecký (The Christian Literary Studies Group): ‘Spiritual Realism: Epiphany in Golding’s novels’ </div>
<br />
<br /><div>7pm Gala Dinner (Refectory)
<br />
<br /><strong>Sunday 18 September, 2011
<br /></strong>
<br />9-10.30am Presentations (6): <em>The Paper Men</em> and the Art of the Novel (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
<br />Miroslawa Buchholtz (Nicolas Copernicus University): ‘Auto/Biographical Trans/Actions in <em>The Paper Men</em>’
<br />Stephen Roberts: ‘The Papyrus Men — Golding’s modified and condensed “Egyptian Book of the Dead”’
<br />Nicole Terrien (University of Rennes): ‘Golding and the art of the novel: mapping a territory of limited understanding’
<br /></div>
<br /><div>10.30-11am Tea and Biscuits (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House) </div>
<br /><div>
<br />11-12.15pm Plenary Address (2): John Carey (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)</div>
<br />
<br /><div>12.30-4pm Excursion to William Golding’s home, Tullimaar (including packed lunch) </div>
<br />
<br /><div>4pm End of Conference
<br />
<br /></div>
<br />Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-34845286341073986792011-05-17T10:17:00.003+01:002011-05-17T10:33:17.899+01:00William Golding Digital Animation Competition<a href="http://goldingblog.blogspot.com/">The William Golding Digital Animation Competition</a> is accepting entries. The closing date is 31 July 2011. Do take notice of the small print: the piece should be between 4 and 8 minutes long, and it should be based on a scene or character from any Golding novel <strong>except</strong> <em>Lord of the Flies</em>.<br /><br />The winner will be announced at the <a href="http://golding2011.blogspot.com/2011/05/william-golding-centenary-conference.html">William Golding Centenary Conference</a> in September. First prize is £1000, with £750 for the runner up.Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-17337469532087078562011-05-10T09:32:00.004+01:002011-05-10T09:48:22.764+01:00William Golding Centenary Conference<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG6zClILnw_x6TIKjpT1afv8ohcPcoK3t4oAtC_0cy7dK8LG31p4g_giEDkJ2RTh843uBrA5WMhoheFn1LjWok1a_14ZGq8KuuSX46jU5xVXbZma5VftkQbKXjKisnQgUnrOmxuMnldy8/s1600/Golding+1959.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 180px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 234px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605006294076938642" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG6zClILnw_x6TIKjpT1afv8ohcPcoK3t4oAtC_0cy7dK8LG31p4g_giEDkJ2RTh843uBrA5WMhoheFn1LjWok1a_14ZGq8KuuSX46jU5xVXbZma5VftkQbKXjKisnQgUnrOmxuMnldy8/s320/Golding+1959.jpg" /></a>The William Golding Centenary Conference will take place at the <a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/cornwall/">Cornwall Campus of the University of Exeter</a> on 16-18 September. The registration form is <a href="http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/collegeofhumanities/ourresearch/documents/Golding_Conference_Registration_Form.pdf">here</a>, and to pay by credit or debit card, go to <a href="http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/collegeofhumanities/ourresearch/documents/Golding_Conference_Credit_Card_Authorisation.pdf">this link</a>.<br /><br />The Golding family has kindly sponsored six postgraduate places. All fees and accommodation will be covered. If you are interested in applying, please <a href="http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/english/staff/kendall/">email me</a>.<br /><br />Here is the provisional programme.<br /><br />Friday 16 September, 2011<br /><br />2-3pm Registration and Coffee (Refectory).<br />3-3.30pm Welcome Address (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)<br />3.30-4.30pm Plenary Address (1): Judy Carver (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)<br />4.30-6pm Presentations (1): <em>Lord of the Flies</em><br />(Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)<br />Nick Groom (University of Exeter): ‘Rings and Flies: Lords of ’54’<br />Aba-Carina Parlog (West University of Timisoara): ‘The Chthonian and the<br />Transcendental as Poles of Insular Conflict’<br />Yasunori Sugimura (Otaru University of Commerce): ‘Environmental Destruction<br />and Self-Destruction in William Golding’s <em>Lord of the Flies</em>’<br />6-8pm Wine Reception (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House)<br />8pm Dinner (Refectory)<br /><br />Saturday 17 September, 2011<br /><br />9-10.30am Presentations (2): Biography and Reputation<br />(Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)<br />John Cox: ‘William Golding at Bishop Wordsworth School’<br />Nick Turner (Manchester Metropolitan University): ‘William Golding: Literary<br />Reputation and the Canon’<br />Sandra Josipović (University of Belgrade): ‘The Reception of William Golding’s<br />Work in Serbian Literary Criticism’<br />10.30-11am Tea and Biscuits (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House)<br />11-12.30pm Presentations (3): Early Fiction<br />(Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)<br />Charlotte Sleigh (University of Kent): ‘“There is another smell of a nobody”:<br />William Golding and the man who wasn’t there’<br />Robert Vuckovich: ‘Castaway Piggy’<br />Miles Leeson (University of Portsmouth): ‘Fall Out: The impact of Hitler on the early<br />Fiction of William Golding and Iris Murdoch’<br />12.30-2pm Buffet Lunch (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House)<br />2-3.30pm Presentations (4): <em>Pincher Martin </em>and <em>The Spire</em> (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)<br />Mark Rawlinson (University of Leicester): ‘<em>Pincher Martin</em> and Narratives of the Second<br />World War at Sea’<br />Virginia Tiger (Rutgers University): ‘Back to the Beginning, On to the End: A Rhetorical<br />Analysis of <em>Pincher Martin</em> and <em>Fire Down Below</em>’<br />Kazunari Miyahara (Yamaguchi University): ‘Pride and Prejudice of Readers in and of<br /><em>The Spire</em>’<br />3.30-4pm Tea and Biscuits (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House)<br />4-5.30pm Presentations (5): <em>Darkness Visible</em> and Visionary Experience<br />(Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)<br />Cumhur Yilmaz Madran (Pamukkale University): ‘A Postmodern Madness in Golding’s<br /><em>Darkness Visible</em>’<br />Nadia D’Amelio (University of Mons): ‘Holy Geometry in Golding’s <em>Darkness Visible</em>’<br />Roger Kojecký (The Christian Literary Studies Group): ‘Spiritual Realism: Epiphany in<br />Golding’s novels’<br />7pm Gala Dinner (Refectory)<br /><br />Sunday 18 September, 2011<br /><br />9-10.30am Presentations (6): <em>The Paper Men</em> and the Art of the Novel<br />(Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)<br />Miroslawa Buchholtz (Nicolas Copernicus University): ‘Auto/Biographical<br />Trans/Actions in <em>The Paper Men</em>’<br />Stephen Roberts: ‘The Papyrus Men — Golding’s modified and condensed “Egyptian<br />Book of the Dead”’<br />Nicole Terrien (University of Rennes): ‘Golding and the art of the novel: mapping a<br />territory of limited understanding’<br />10.30-11am Tea and Biscuits (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House)<br />11-12.15pm Plenary Address (2): John Carey<br />(Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)<br />12.30-4pm Excursion to William Golding’s home, Tullimaar (including packed lunch)<br />4pm End of ConferenceTim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-44508850316380222862011-05-02T15:14:00.006+01:002011-05-16T22:09:12.461+01:00Judy Carver's The Children of Lovers<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7zqp_4hz8pC5gmRDvgZZI7uyNaRRnOSM5o9kCrU67E_VwTEpf_d_AgTWRiC4VqDAMc4_H6JCfUWlXtY2gHkbcXkf5YA5n6irZ5sNwKsOf2jrPJfcpFrqnbM54M_-1EEoiCpuGvX4L0uA/s1600/children+of+lovers.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 199px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602122599218847538" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7zqp_4hz8pC5gmRDvgZZI7uyNaRRnOSM5o9kCrU67E_VwTEpf_d_AgTWRiC4VqDAMc4_H6JCfUWlXtY2gHkbcXkf5YA5n6irZ5sNwKsOf2jrPJfcpFrqnbM54M_-1EEoiCpuGvX4L0uA/s320/children+of+lovers.jpg" /></a>Congratulations to Judy Carver, whose long-awaited memoir <em><a href="http://www.faber.co.uk/work/children-of-lovers/9780571273409/">The Children of Lovers</a></em> has been published to enthusiastic reviews.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-children-of-lovers-by-judy-golding-2276056.html">Helen Taylor in the <em>Independent</em>.</a><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8480263/The-Children-of-Lovers-a-Memoir-of-William-Golding-by-his-Daughter-by-Judy-Golding-review.htmlhttp://">Jane Shilling in the <em>Telegraph</em>.</a><br /><a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/0423/1224295291659.html">Molly McCloskey in the <em>Irish Times</em>.</a><br /><a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/6915448/the-choppy-sea-of-family-life-.thtml">Penelope Lively in the <em>Spectator</em>.</a><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/14/children-lovers-william-golding-review?INTCMP=SRCH">Ian Sansom in the <em>Guardian</em>. </a><br /><a href="http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/book/article-23947093-william-golding---a-famous-father.do">Claire Harman in the <em>Evening Standard</em>.</a>Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-79389031469926576122011-02-12T07:47:00.005+00:002011-02-12T08:08:19.935+00:00William Golding Centenary Conference<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHavl-HhFawuMfZX0FANFX_Gq3uROnwKREFo4wFyExClo_o3YEtBtij1AKu_htGaiACj5BF-9wUZA2aCBIc9gmAW0PdMbPdqktdF5wY63lPgkeP82IqLjRJvvUn9Thtwj_M_n4wcHaWkc/s1600/Golding+1959.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 180px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 234px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572708483890114690" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHavl-HhFawuMfZX0FANFX_Gq3uROnwKREFo4wFyExClo_o3YEtBtij1AKu_htGaiACj5BF-9wUZA2aCBIc9gmAW0PdMbPdqktdF5wY63lPgkeP82IqLjRJvvUn9Thtwj_M_n4wcHaWkc/s320/Golding+1959.jpg" /></a>Plans for the <a href="http://golding2011.blogspot.com/2009/09/william-golding-centenary-conference.html">William Golding Centenary Conference </a>at the University of Exeter Cornwall Campus, in Tremough on 16-18 September 2011, are well underway. We have our plenary speakers: Judy Carver and John Carey. We have also accepted a number of proposals for shorter papers, as listed below. The registration details will be published soon. I have created a Facebook group <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_134774326589576">here</a> for regular conference updates. If you would like to join and can't work out how, please email me and I will arrange it.<br /><br />The call for papers has a deadline of 31 March 2011.<br /><br />The conference will include an exhibition of unpublished papers and a visit to William Golding's home at Tullimaar on Sunday 18 September. We are extremely grateful to his family, who have been supportive throughout.<br /><br />Speakers will include:<br /><br />Nadia D'Amelio (University of Mons)<br />Roger Kojecky (The Christian Literary Studies Group)<br />Nick Groom (University of Exeter)<br />Mark Rawlinson (University of Leicester)<br />Charlotte Sleigh (University of Kent)<br />Sola Ogunbayo (Redeemer's University, Nigeria)<br />Miroslawa Buchholtz (Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland)<br />Robert Vuckovitch<br />John CoxTim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-22629074779819918042010-09-20T08:47:00.003+01:002010-09-20T09:08:33.480+01:00Judy Carver's Memoir<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3SnvThIrl_8HRea8ikOp-vsNYgoqGxwNlHfe0U3zLq6-dRaqfUswjSV5cGEwchjIDnHq5IAtL0A5-iZdb98liR04YOSvyCyYAB8Yfx2kNQd4oOOuWmfypskfwHcXYp1271wAcOWuCiZQ/s1600/the+Goldings.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 140px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 84px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518900138398033218" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3SnvThIrl_8HRea8ikOp-vsNYgoqGxwNlHfe0U3zLq6-dRaqfUswjSV5cGEwchjIDnHq5IAtL0A5-iZdb98liR04YOSvyCyYAB8Yfx2kNQd4oOOuWmfypskfwHcXYp1271wAcOWuCiZQ/s320/the+Goldings.jpg" /></a>There was a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/19/william-golding-daughter-memoir">good article in yesterday's <em>Observer</em></a> about Judy Carver's forthcoming memoir of her father, <em>The Children of Lovers</em>. The book will be published in May, but in the meantime Judy offers some glimpses of her childhood experiences:<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Recalling a walk with her father as a child, when she was chattering away to him, Carver says he told her not to talk because he was trying to think. "It turned out he was thinking about <em>Pincher Martin</em>, a brilliant novel which is very complicated. I can see the point now, but at the time I was hurt. His capacity for concentration was absolutely extraordinary."<br /></span><br />The <em>Observer</em> article appeared on what would have been William Golding's 99th birthday, so by one measure the centenary year has now begun. The article mentions a number of events planned for next year. As well as the publication of Judy's memoir, the correspondence between Golding and Charles Monteith will be opened; Faber will produce a centenary edition of the novels; and in September the <a href="http://golding2011.blogspot.com/2009/09/william-golding-centenary-conference.html">centenary conference</a> (at which Judy will be speaking) will be held at the Cornwall campus of the University of Exeter, a few miles from Golding's home at Perranarworthal.Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-62499416262085354602010-08-29T15:56:00.004+01:002010-08-29T16:00:20.595+01:00Golding and the Age of Anxiety<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tjqh0/In_Their_Own_Words_British_Novelists_The_Age_of_Anxiety_(19451969)/">Here</a> (for British viewers at least) is another product of the BBC's ongoing digitisation of its archive. The Golding section begins at 6:30, and uses materials from the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/writers/12203.shtml">Monitor interview</a>, but it contains some intriguing bits and pieces, such as footage of A S Byatt singing the praises of <em>Lord of the Flies</em>.Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-72511245890514907512010-08-19T20:24:00.002+01:002010-08-19T20:28:41.862+01:00BBC Monitor Interview, 1959<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCtrvxNyZgQTJxmEl0U3IzDEQchjnmZjkizzTeTH-py7TAk7gWTZRgY9nVzfMdCGhCt61Q3OQRnbJbG8WSGhuFf9Y5SEkF1f4KviXBTalg3bAtR2_E0kSaDZFGDvuWSLuUVW2OQnDN6c4/s1600/Golding+1959.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 77px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 77px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507204936003682386" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCtrvxNyZgQTJxmEl0U3IzDEQchjnmZjkizzTeTH-py7TAk7gWTZRgY9nVzfMdCGhCt61Q3OQRnbJbG8WSGhuFf9Y5SEkF1f4KviXBTalg3bAtR2_E0kSaDZFGDvuWSLuUVW2OQnDN6c4/s200/Golding+1959.jpg" /></a>As it digitises its vast archive, the BBC has been making available a number of interviews with modern British novelists. One such features William Golding in 1959, very soon after the publication of <em>Free Fall</em>. It can be viewed <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/writers/12203.shtml">here</a>.Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-72040699297721456222010-06-03T19:59:00.005+01:002010-06-03T20:09:56.535+01:00Facebook revisitedThe official William Golding fanpage on Facebook has migrated to <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/William-Golding-Nobel-Prize-Winner/126913097330561">here</a>.Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-49544248432032347002010-06-03T19:55:00.002+01:002010-06-03T19:59:31.675+01:00Golding Panel at NeMLA, April 2011Details <a href="http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/37285">here</a> of a proposed panel on William Golding at the next NeMLA convention in New Brunswick, 7-10 April 2011.Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-57981984290935993532010-05-16T20:49:00.003+01:002010-05-16T20:56:13.093+01:00William Golding on Facebook<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi1vkV57NHFrn-FgkH4s_F10DCHtABc6z7M976A4PJapOxkLMgezatPmlbA3SlOASIPyIw9BpmRk_JMah06K_dDD0EGBYPPuGlfLtSyp9grfgTOAvlFThn2WAVoh9DH5gr3Ru7j_83D5c/s1600/facebook.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 124px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 93px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471958604630780434" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi1vkV57NHFrn-FgkH4s_F10DCHtABc6z7M976A4PJapOxkLMgezatPmlbA3SlOASIPyIw9BpmRk_JMah06K_dDD0EGBYPPuGlfLtSyp9grfgTOAvlFThn2WAVoh9DH5gr3Ru7j_83D5c/s320/facebook.jpg" /></a>A new site has been set up on Facebook by William Golding Ltd. The site already carries a few posts relating to Golding and his work. Sign up <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001067423159&v=wall&ref=ts">here</a>.Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-37868926635576992010-05-13T14:43:00.003+01:002010-05-13T14:49:12.371+01:00Golding and the Sea<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtFUeVVVgWsX3PHvzVAYINMMWD_WXfxj9CsfCC6Bc4EcubK_9Kg3_iTcI73sCrUkfnz2zJZgqyxXdudhSAEKJ2ZavK2rJhaBd3DnaQC_lz_-pFjcpqAT-1xFFHBJSBREk3Zf8YUrl7Wl8/s1600/sea.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 300px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470751196990002546" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtFUeVVVgWsX3PHvzVAYINMMWD_WXfxj9CsfCC6Bc4EcubK_9Kg3_iTcI73sCrUkfnz2zJZgqyxXdudhSAEKJ2ZavK2rJhaBd3DnaQC_lz_-pFjcpqAT-1xFFHBJSBREk3Zf8YUrl7Wl8/s400/sea.jpg" /></a>Thanks to my colleague Paul Williams for sending the link to the BBC's <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00s96xz/Art_of_the_Sea_In_Words/">Art of the Sea</a>.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeeEjQBy6lRZdy1KmVl1Fc1i-SvSSZ5lxxfjASIiz-624vw6-furRK-1dA-udY_qSQE2Wld21Cnj3IlBGvMx4JF4g571IaBOC5Atcvr97hTIc8a3G7AYKpvZ0SIDXmixIkmYl743sQTA8/s1600/sea.jpg"></a> The section on Golding is over 5 minutes long, and starts at about 34 minutes.Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-42501517125464359752010-05-06T21:43:00.003+01:002010-05-07T00:13:19.467+01:00Neanderthals, Cannibalism, Interbreeding<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL31s6iQpqVAkYqzrcs71mcMcHEICG4DZxFzz6Itmk-Ih5guhFwsl5OqCtkpm9q4_qvn0kaHGlIre2_7EFjpV006Kd9-Y7BRDYNq5vcS7jPIbzBAHTSXUwWcYnsWU89FRFuegdMNFNSVU/s1600/neanderthal.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 288px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468298541162129202" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL31s6iQpqVAkYqzrcs71mcMcHEICG4DZxFzz6Itmk-Ih5guhFwsl5OqCtkpm9q4_qvn0kaHGlIre2_7EFjpV006Kd9-Y7BRDYNq5vcS7jPIbzBAHTSXUwWcYnsWU89FRFuegdMNFNSVU/s400/neanderthal.jpg" /></a>I have blogged <a href="http://golding2011.blogspot.com/2009/05/neanderthals-on-menu.html">previously</a> about recent archaeological discoveries which support William Golding's contention in <a href="http://www.william-golding.co.uk/w_inheritors.html"><em>The Inheritors</em> </a>that Homo Sapiens <a href="htthttp://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/may/17/neanderthals-cannibalism-anthropological-sciences-journalp://">killed and ate </a>Neanderthal man. At the end of the novel, the only surviving Neanderthal is a baby, who is adopted by the Homo Sapiens tribe. There is at least the implication that the Neanderthal will become assimilated, perhaps will even grow up to breed with its distant cousins. Having been confronted with the shock of recognising the murderers as our own ancestors, we are given a second shock: we are descended from both perpetrators and victims, having witnessed one tribe of our ancestors committing genocide against another.<br /><div></div><br /><div>Evidence from DNA analysis claims to identify the extent of this interbreeding. According to <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/may/06/neanderthals-dna-humans-genome">newly published research</a>, between 1% and 4% of the DNA of Europeans and Asians has been inherited from Neanderthals. The scientists go on to explain that 'interbreeding between humans [sic] and Neanderthals may nonetheless have been rare. Just two Neanderthal females in a group of around a hundred humans would have been enough to leave such a trace in our genome, provided that was the group that gave rise to all modern humans outside Africa.' </div>Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-53482887406419073212010-01-11T10:45:00.003+00:002010-01-11T10:53:52.018+00:00Golding Memorial Lecture by John Carey<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisymCvFMxHQe7m6ITciYPt_7WEdWQleF-FmjfPvCd5SWJXgpXEXyYc8EE8p_S_bQ0H7Aukj5jU-Qs6WUS-vFMehR7Z9LGhTmR1yuIZJLq7dO6wogd3j6enWaOjcU5cssbQx4t-MCvXHe4/s1600-h/carey2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425432286033290802" style="WIDTH: 396px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 188px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisymCvFMxHQe7m6ITciYPt_7WEdWQleF-FmjfPvCd5SWJXgpXEXyYc8EE8p_S_bQ0H7Aukj5jU-Qs6WUS-vFMehR7Z9LGhTmR1yuIZJLq7dO6wogd3j6enWaOjcU5cssbQx4t-MCvXHe4/s400/carey2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />John Carey will be giving the 2010 William Golding Memorial Lecture at the Cornwall Campus of the University of Exeter, Lecture Theatre A, on 26 January at 6pm. His title is 'Bill and Mollie: An Unwritten Episode'. All are welcome. Members of the public are invited to register their interest at <a href="mailto:wgoldinglecture@exeter.ac.uk">wgoldinglecture@exeter.ac.uk</a><br /><br />John Carey is Merton Professor Emeritus at Oxford University. A distinguished critic and reviewer, he has twice chaired the Booker Prize judging panel. His most recent book, <em>William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies</em>, is the first biography of the author, and draws almost entirely on materials never before made public.<br /><br />Born in Cornwall in 1911, William Golding is the county’s most distinguished author. His first novel, <em>Lord of the Flies</em>, was an immediate success. He went on to write twelve more novels, including the Booker Prize-winning <em>Rites of Passage</em>. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983 and was knighted in 1988. He died at his home in Perranarworthal, near Truro, in 1993.Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-15009859449389407402009-11-12T08:45:00.003+00:002009-11-12T09:02:14.454+00:00Lord of the Flies: 'Inaccurate and erratic sentence structure'<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlHzXsglj38-uEXf4GbafzomoNnCmN3nF3Y_PSN7KE5vB3AQvGPkQWjAeIczsIAR_65sINr9y3yGsA8P20nNfxAoqniLqtUx84RlG-R0qP9e8pILBCpMLLacKm8TxOhxSrlJtW9ADR1So/s1600-h/computer.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403139786483968066" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 158px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlHzXsglj38-uEXf4GbafzomoNnCmN3nF3Y_PSN7KE5vB3AQvGPkQWjAeIczsIAR_65sINr9y3yGsA8P20nNfxAoqniLqtUx84RlG-R0qP9e8pILBCpMLLacKm8TxOhxSrlJtW9ADR1So/s200/computer.gif" border="0" /></a>Today's <em>Times</em> <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article6913318.ece">reports</a> that works by some of our major authors have been fed into a computer used for marking 'the American equivalent of A level English'. Predictably enough, the computer was not impressed. Churchill's style was deemed 'too repetitive', Hemingway was told to write 'with more care and detail', and <em>Lord of the Flies</em> was found guilty of 'inaccurate and erratic sentence structure'. American children are learning the knack of 'schmoozing the computer' --- that is, adapting their style to the computer's judgements.Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-52458973624116176902009-09-21T13:37:00.007+01:002009-09-21T14:55:26.395+01:00William Golding Centenary Conference: Call for Papers<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi70Zry1IBYMlx7IZ6iqMKOzyDbtEK1SX9Tg0sHqR5QK4kw6mCkEm2IDl5X7ANV9d5obRK48gDxRzzRaBMhSK_aHytq4x1fD9arUxFtikc98ptPjVTmpZ3LCpnDelIzBvFB2b_FSQWTa7I/s1600-h/goldingblog.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383905315824738786" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 90px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 117px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi70Zry1IBYMlx7IZ6iqMKOzyDbtEK1SX9Tg0sHqR5QK4kw6mCkEm2IDl5X7ANV9d5obRK48gDxRzzRaBMhSK_aHytq4x1fD9arUxFtikc98ptPjVTmpZ3LCpnDelIzBvFB2b_FSQWTa7I/s200/goldingblog.jpg" border="0" /></a>The William Golding Centenary Conference<br />University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus<br />16-18 September 2011<br />Plenary speakers: <a href="http://www.johncarey.org/">John Carey</a>, <a href="http://www.william-golding.co.uk/f_memoir.html">Judy Carver</a>.<br /><br />CALL FOR PAPERS<br /><br />Born in Cornwall, William Golding returned to his native county late in life, finding what he called ‘a little bit of heaven’ at Perranarworthal, a hamlet just a few miles from what is now the University of Exeter’s <a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/cornwall/">Cornwall Campus</a>. In September 2011, the campus will mark the centenary of his birth by holding a major conference in his honour. Events will include a tour of his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tullimaar_House">family home</a>, a film screening, and an exhibition of unpublished manuscripts and memorabilia.<br /><br />Although he is still best remembered for <em>Lord of the Flies</em>, Golding wrote across a variety of genres. His published works comprise a dozen novels, as well as a play, short stories, essays, poems, and a travel book. Interest in Golding is now undergoing a strong revival, most recently marked by John Carey’s biography.<br /><br />Papers are invited on any aspect of William Golding’s life and work. Topics which may be covered include, but are not restricted to:<br /><ul><br /><li><em>Lord of the Flies</em> and its afterlives</li><li>Golding and women</li><li>Golding among his contemporaries</li><li>The rational and the religious</li><li>Golding and the state of the nation</li><li>Golding's non-fictional writings</li><li>Childhood and innocence</li><li>Golding and war</li><li>Golding's narrative techniques</li><li>Golding and travel</li><li>Golding's influence/influences on Golding</li></ul><br /><p>For further information, please contact the conference organisers, Prof. Tim Kendall and Dr. Adeline Johns-Putra.<br /><br />The deadline for proposals (approx. 250 words for 20-minute papers) is 31 March 2011. Please email or post proposals to the conference organisers: <a href="http://www.sall.ex.ac.uk/english/content/view/742/3/">Tim Kendall</a>, Department of English, University of Exeter, Queen’s Building, The Queen’s Drive, Exeter EX4 4QH; or <a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/cornwall/academic_departments/english/research/Johns-Putra.shtml">Adeline Johns-Putra</a>, Department of English, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9EZ.<br /><br /></p><div></div>Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-36385603418011256872009-09-17T13:36:00.006+01:002009-09-17T13:43:58.922+01:00William Golding in Wiltshire<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN4cd36tgFQuD-XogsD_UTrJ2H5D9wO0R0q6I9l6hZclAENSipFPUekj1Z1PrqsZHeuKZIgHDi0M4ak6JxbMWKhumcSQCBXw-Z7NQjDMVg0xmmxVRS_LGhrSFzLtm_YS7rlIe1YT-6IAM/s1600-h/29The+Green-cr.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382415046474960242" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 289px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN4cd36tgFQuD-XogsD_UTrJ2H5D9wO0R0q6I9l6hZclAENSipFPUekj1Z1PrqsZHeuKZIgHDi0M4ak6JxbMWKhumcSQCBXw-Z7NQjDMVg0xmmxVRS_LGhrSFzLtm_YS7rlIe1YT-6IAM/s400/29The+Green-cr.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">29 The Green, Marlborough, reproduced with kind permission of the Golding Family. </span><br /><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/wiltshire/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8260000/8260778.stm">Here</a> is my article for BBC Wiltshire on William Golding's links with the county.Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-8220975341825873132009-09-17T13:31:00.002+01:002009-09-17T13:35:58.422+01:00John Carey at Wells<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVpzPOaIbNE9Awf776lnw_JmTvP8cb0pYJGeL3W9nl0qmoquiVmPD_ideOz5f0TFE21NpxoxAE5Oyq3_0GGNI8oWePpmJcA2beOyJBsk4z3HqHeMTPZqXU1yOHzZV-KtMJLROruEqp6I/s1600-h/wells.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382414113930714370" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 146px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVpzPOaIbNE9Awf776lnw_JmTvP8cb0pYJGeL3W9nl0qmoquiVmPD_ideOz5f0TFE21NpxoxAE5Oyq3_0GGNI8oWePpmJcA2beOyJBsk4z3HqHeMTPZqXU1yOHzZV-KtMJLROruEqp6I/s200/wells.png" border="0" /></a>John Carey will be speaking about William Golding at the <a href="http://www.wlitf.co.uk/programme.pdf">Wells Festival of Literature</a>, St Cuthbert's Church, Wells, on Friday 16 October at 7.30pm.Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-67858832347174433782009-08-25T21:12:00.003+01:002009-08-26T15:06:19.812+01:00John Carey on Front Row<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFGTsoqe6DCsvBKJo_9dM31DG5GTxjTz44JcY_-loCFZCAqBi3ls4Q5akSzd1dkd-ZSZh89L9elZtXIcXLTqpGWsqMP8Lujex1fczSrpESuQDQjTAKE972N5yD_IUlBD9TXmhLozcQpfk/s1600-h/carey.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373997159216463570" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 115px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 143px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFGTsoqe6DCsvBKJo_9dM31DG5GTxjTz44JcY_-loCFZCAqBi3ls4Q5akSzd1dkd-ZSZh89L9elZtXIcXLTqpGWsqMP8Lujex1fczSrpESuQDQjTAKE972N5yD_IUlBD9TXmhLozcQpfk/s200/carey.jpg" border="0" /></a> Courtesy of BBC's iPlayer, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00m662d">here</a> (from 0.45) is John Carey interviewed by Mark Lawson on Radio 4's <em>Front Row </em>last night. Carey discusses, <em>inter alia</em>, the '<a href="http://golding2011.blogspot.com/2009/08/william-goldings-rape-amor-vinshit.html">rape story</a>', the struggle to find a publisher for <em>Lord of the Flies</em>, the subtitle of his own biography, the unpublished Golding papers and novels, the reasons for Golding's mid-career drought, and his own changed feelings towards the art of biography now that he has finally joined the biographers' union.Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-81070242915261702572009-08-23T09:38:00.007+01:002009-08-24T11:17:34.402+01:00Publication of Lord of the Flies<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjsOWjuh56bNYfKA_z5xDY-F7BT2G2t9YE6ehIbI0YQsyoBe7zC7p_P8DGWxaeiEnDrqljJxppJTmrDF8kAK8wmBaBXBu1SvUsu98hjrwt-9k4fnhMC7zVzZSFWeWugKtYr6ui9qp_YOE/s1600-h/Lord+of+the+flies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373080850987447346" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 127px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 97px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjsOWjuh56bNYfKA_z5xDY-F7BT2G2t9YE6ehIbI0YQsyoBe7zC7p_P8DGWxaeiEnDrqljJxppJTmrDF8kAK8wmBaBXBu1SvUsu98hjrwt-9k4fnhMC7zVzZSFWeWugKtYr6ui9qp_YOE/s400/Lord+of+the+flies.jpg" border="0" /></a>After last week's <a href="http://golding2011.blogspot.com/2009/08/william-goldings-rape-amor-vinshit.html">sensationalised rape story</a>, today's <em>Sunday Times</em> begins its serialisation of John Carey's forthcoming biography with his account of the publication of <em>Lord of the Flies</em>. Much of this has been done before, not least by Golding's editor at Faber, Charles Monteith, who <a href="http://www.johncarey.org/books/tmahb.html">tells how he rescued </a>the tea-stained manuscript from the slush-pile. But Carey pulls the different sources together effectively, pointing out (for example) that Golding's cover letter was 'scarcely alluring':<br /><div></div><br /><div>Dear Sir</div><br /><div>I send you the typescript of my novel 'Strangers from Within' which might be defined as an allegorical interpretation of a stock situation.</div><br /><div>I hope you will feel able to publish it.</div><br /><div>Yours faithfully</div><br /><div>William Golding</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Faber's reader has scrawled along the top of the letter that the novel is an 'Absurd and uninteresting fantasy', and concludes with the verdict 'Rubbish & dull'. Far more remarkable even than Monteith's talent for spotting what everyone else had missed must have been the diligence with which he carried out his job. Faced with a report like that, and a dog-eared manuscript which had evidently done the rounds of the publishing houses already, very few hard-pressed editors would have spent more than a minute before scribbling a kindly rejection note. </div><div><br /> </div><div></div><div>Update --- thanks to Sean Hewitt for pointing out that there is now a link to the <em>Sunday Times</em> serialisation: <a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article6801942.ece">here</a>.</div>Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-64840280733513819822009-08-17T15:43:00.028+01:002018-09-07T08:32:09.132+01:00William Golding's 'Rape': Amor Vinshit Omnia<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9IQukQ747-Dm4aRbJM7eWeXMwqHIFtC4LG95t07kUS7v5DdKzx6BqVT5zwUS9nqg0x4feZ45Ho5lCVrugvg_T4eyYfCDEvYvNp9IOFZLiCforN742a3Xrne6P-cazLHPKv98zSpiKM3I/s1600-h/Pyramid.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370963269156148242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9IQukQ747-Dm4aRbJM7eWeXMwqHIFtC4LG95t07kUS7v5DdKzx6BqVT5zwUS9nqg0x4feZ45Ho5lCVrugvg_T4eyYfCDEvYvNp9IOFZLiCforN742a3Xrne6P-cazLHPKv98zSpiKM3I/s200/Pyramid.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 134px;" /></a>More reaction today to the <a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article6797774.ece"><i>Sunday Times</i>'s story</a> about William Golding's 'attempted rape' of a 15-year-old girl. Golding's self-punishing phrase has been repeated in the newspaper headlines without quotation marks. The online comments sections which follow are filled with complaints that 'rape' is not the right word. As one defender of Golding put it, 'why let nuance get in the way of a good headline?' Kathryn Hughes, for <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/aug/17/william-golding-defined-headline">Guardian online</a>, wonders whether the incident would 'be better described as a botched seduction scene which took place between two teenagers living at a time when sexual knowledge was something you had to acquire unofficially, often in fear and loathing?'<br />
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Here are the crucial paragraphs in Richard Brooks's <i>Sunday Times</i> article:</div>
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<span style="font-size: 85%;">Golding writes that they went for a walk to the common and he “felt sure she wanted heavy sex, as this was visibly written on her pert, ripe and desirable mouth”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 85%;">Soon they were “wrestling like enemies” as he “tried unhandily to rape her”. But she resisted and Golding, all those years later, wrote that “he had made such a bad hand at rape” before shaking her and shouting “I’m not going to hurt you”. Dora ran off. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 85%;">After a gap of two years, they met again and consummated their relationship. Golding records her unromantic question, when she asked: “Should I have all that rammed up my guts?”</span> </div>
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There is an added difficulty in judging an incident which took place in 1929, and for which we have only one account --- from an unpublished memoir written during the 1960s. Golding is said to have written the piece to show his wife that he was a 'monster': the defendant becomes his own most aggressive prosecutor, having recourse to emotive language in order to clinch his case. </div>
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If any good comes from these headlines, it must be that it will send readers back to <i><a href="http://www.william-golding.co.uk/w_pyramid.html">The Pyramid</a></i> (1967), a darkly comic novel based (it now appears) on Golding's teenage years in Marlborough. Evie fights off Oliver, and conspires to expose his antics to his father by having sex with him on the escarpment overlooking the town. 'Should I have all that?' she asks the proudly tumescent Oliver with a hint of mockery, thereby providing an abbreviated version of Dora's eloquent question. </div>
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Increasingly irritated by the spotless reputation of the town's golden boy, Evie later denounces Oliver in the pub for having 'raped' her. Meanwhile her father, the town crier, has been loudly proclaiming through the streets of Stilbourne that 'Amor vinshit omnia'. With its nice mixture of idealism and excrement, it seems as good a motto for <i>The Pyramid</i> as any. </div>
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Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-58500825041314000372009-08-16T14:26:00.011+01:002009-08-17T17:49:14.563+01:00Pre-publicity for Sunday Times Serialisation<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOelVMWrKPSNJvPy1LzAlx6VSWCAmkg0TrxvfPMG3Hc_ZU54aakt7TpqKETq2eIOX_85HiOK9S69Aml7GfBrks5lKscp26wjewCwlnm1RZULDrlY1_C4ekKNITFYjamFx4cQ1c77-58xw/s1600-h/marlborough+the+green.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370553259147941602" style="WIDTH: 244px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 192px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOelVMWrKPSNJvPy1LzAlx6VSWCAmkg0TrxvfPMG3Hc_ZU54aakt7TpqKETq2eIOX_85HiOK9S69Aml7GfBrks5lKscp26wjewCwlnm1RZULDrlY1_C4ekKNITFYjamFx4cQ1c77-58xw/s400/marlborough+the+green.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>A <a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article6797774.ece">story in today's <em>Sunday Times</em></a> serves as a taster for the serialisation, beginning next week, of John Carey's biography of Golding. 'Author William Golding attacked girl of 15', it states, above a photograph of Golding in his late thirties with his wife. Not until the eighth paragraph is it revealed that Golding had been 18 at the time.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>In an unpublished memoir written decades after the event, Golding accused himself of attempted rape. Walking with 'Dora' on the common, he had 'felt sure she wanted heavy sex, as this was visibly written on her pert, ripe and desirable mouth'. Soon they were 'wrestling like enemies' as he 'tried unhandily to rape her'. When she resisted, he shook her and shouted 'I’m not going to hurt you'. Then Dora ran off. The <em>Sunday Times</em> reports that two years later they consummated their relationship, in circumstances evidently adapted by Golding for the open-air sex between Oliver and Evie in <em>The Pyramid</em>. </div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>There is a lively discussion in the <a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article6797774.ece#comment-have-your-say">comments section</a> over whether Golding was accurate in using the word 'rape'. </div><div><br /> </div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>Update: my view of the 'rape' story is <a href="http://golding2011.blogspot.com/2009/08/william-goldings-rape-amor-vinshit.html">here</a>. </div>Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-21736157491144258872009-08-09T09:27:00.007+01:002009-08-17T17:48:21.105+01:00John Carey's Biography<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9N9WDnjtLxfSSHdhhIwlcbNLIhpyQEB8O5bj4Fj8EGDZkFS-xfTJ-SAMCOQaoNapL1OFLTkuz4Z_NfaN52oZCJRCTubkZNuyC3YioBPR7baNTiUzxYqWTBGKuJmDlJtnQ4SU7uk2r5Vw/s1600-h/golding+cover.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367878127525258626" style="WIDTH: 259px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9N9WDnjtLxfSSHdhhIwlcbNLIhpyQEB8O5bj4Fj8EGDZkFS-xfTJ-SAMCOQaoNapL1OFLTkuz4Z_NfaN52oZCJRCTubkZNuyC3YioBPR7baNTiUzxYqWTBGKuJmDlJtnQ4SU7uk2r5Vw/s400/golding+cover.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The official publication date for John Carey's biography is 3 September. On 29 September at 6.30pm John Carey will be <a href="http://www.faber.co.uk/event/2009/9/83/">talking with Mark Lawson </a>about the biography at the conference centre of the British Library. Tickets (£6/£4) are bookable at the British Library box office, or by calling 01937 546546.<br /><br />According to <a href="http://www.faber.co.uk/work/william-golding/9780571231638/">Faber's synopsis</a>, the biography will reveal 'a many-sided figure: a war-hero, a reclusive depressive who considered himself a "monster", a family man, a victim of fears and phobias who battled against alcoholism, and a writer who trusted the imagination above all things.'<br /><br />I have one reservation. The subtitle (<em>The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies</em>) concedes a case which did not need to be acknowledged. I can see the argument for hooking readers before showing them in the biography itself why Golding amounts to so much more than <em>Lord of the Flies</em>. But the subtitle narrows Golding's achievement unnecessarily. Was the decision made by the biographer or the marketing department?<br /><br />That matter aside, I am looking forward to this book more than any for a very long time. Golding tantalises his readers with novels which have autobiographical elements: the Marlborough/Stilbourne setting of <em>The Pyramid</em>; the meeting of Sammy and Taffy (both already engaged to others<em>)</em> in <em>Free Fall</em>; the alcoholic novelist wealthy on account of one book's success in <em>The Paper Men</em>. At last we will find out when and where (and whether) the autobiography stopped.<em> </em><br /><em></em><br />Update: See <a href="http://golding2011.blogspot.com/2009/08/william-goldings-rape-amor-vinshit.html">here</a> for my view of the 'rape' story.Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8931969154293989065.post-41902937053641817032009-06-25T20:58:00.004+01:002009-06-25T21:11:10.268+01:00William Golding Website<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmV-JQUPGrPmbqX4e07wyKjviBRBG7o7oy-pBb6xOJfFmNruaAT_z1xtkRSE-nWIR399Nn1jRBD6SQ9dAeCFNYGGzvPasSqDFwclSzKYyiCc5Hz0rSU_KyH7wISCwuBMWWRH2wvzhh_OM/s1600-h/golding+poems.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351359744739776706" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 141px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmV-JQUPGrPmbqX4e07wyKjviBRBG7o7oy-pBb6xOJfFmNruaAT_z1xtkRSE-nWIR399Nn1jRBD6SQ9dAeCFNYGGzvPasSqDFwclSzKYyiCc5Hz0rSU_KyH7wISCwuBMWWRH2wvzhh_OM/s200/golding+poems.jpg" border="0" /></a>The <a href="http://www.william-golding.co.uk/">official William Golding website</a> reports <a href="http://www.william-golding.co.uk/whatsnew.html">a new association </a>with the <a href="http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/southwestwriting/">Centre for South West Writing</a> at the University of Exeter and the <a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/cornwall/academic_departments/english/index.shtml">Department of English at Exeter's Cornwall Campus</a>. Students from the campus have contributed three new essays to the website, focusing on <a href="http://www.william-golding.co.uk/F_vigilanti.pdf"><em>Poems</em></a> (1934), <a href="http://www.william-golding.co.uk/F_costin.pdf"><em>The Spire</em> </a>(1964) and <em><a href="http://www.william-golding.co.uk/w_pyramid.html">The Pyramid</a></em> (1967).<br /><br />The centenary conference will take place at the campus in September 2011.Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com0