William Golding

William Golding Centenary Round-Up

2011-09-19T09:38:00.003+01:00

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.

There have been various publications to mark the centenary. Faber has reissued the novels with introductions (Stephen King on Lord of the Flies, John Carey on The Inheritors, etc.). This weekend, two of my old tutors, Craig Raine and Peter Conrad, have published essays on The Spire and Lord of the Flies respectively. And The Guardian is now running a competition to design a new cover for Flies. Starting tonight, and for the rest of the week, Radio 3 will be broadcasting essays on Golding's novels.

William Golding Centenary Conference Registration Deadline

2011-08-13T08:32:00.004+01:00

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 here. 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.

The William Golding Centenary Conference
Centre For South West Writing
University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus
16-18 September, 2011

Friday 16 September, 2011

2-3pm Registration and Coffee (Refectory)

3-3.30pm Welcome Address (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)

3.30-4.30pm Plenary Address (1): Judy Golding (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)

4.30-6pm Presentations (1): Lord of the Flies (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
Nick Groom (University of Exeter): ‘Rings and Flies: Lords of ’54’
Yasunori Sugimura (Otaru University of Commerce): ‘Environmental Destruction and Self-Destruction in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies’

6-8pm Wine Reception (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House)

8pm Dinner (Refectory)

Saturday 17 September, 2011

9-10.30am Presentations (2): Biography and Reputation (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
John Cox: ‘William Golding at Bishop Wordsworth School’
Nicola Presley (University of Exeter)): ‘The Enduring Influence of William Golding in Popular Culture’
Sandra Josipović (University of Belgrade): ‘The Reception of William Golding’s Work in Serbian Literary Criticism’

10.30-11am Tea and Biscuits (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House)

11-12.30pm Presentations (3): Early Fiction (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
Charlotte Sleigh (University of Kent): ‘“There is another smell of a nobody”: William Golding and the man who wasn’t there’
Terrell Carver (University of Bristol): ‘Hobbes vs Locke in Lord of the Flies, or Where Did
Ralph Go Wrong?’
Miles Leeson (University of Portsmouth): ‘Fall Out: The impact of Hitler on the early fiction of William Golding and Iris Murdoch’

12.30-2pm Buffet Lunch (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House)

2-3.30pm Presentations (4): Pincher Martin and The Spire (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
Mark Rawlinson (University of Leicester): ‘Pincher Martin and Narratives of the Second World War at Sea’
Virginia Tiger (Rutgers University): ‘Back to the Beginning, On to the End: A Rhetorical Analysis of Pincher Martin and Fire Down Below’
Kazunari Miyahara (Yamaguchi University): ‘Pride and Prejudice of Readers in and of The Spire’

3.30-4pm Tea and Biscuits (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House)

4-5.30pm Presentations (5): Darkness Visible and Visionary Experience (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
Nadia D’Amelio (University of Mons): ‘Holy Geometry in Golding’s Darkness Visible’
Roger Kojecký (The Christian Literary Studies Group): ‘Spiritual Realism: Epiphany in Golding’s novels’

7pm Gala Dinner (Refectory)

Sunday 18 September, 2011

9-10.30am Presentations (6): The Paper Men and the Art of the Novel (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
Miroslawa Buchholtz (Nicolas Copernicus University): ‘Auto/Biographical Trans/Actions in The Paper Men’
Stephen Roberts: ‘The Papyrus Men — Golding’s modified and condensed “Egyptian Book of the Dead”’
Nicole Terrien (University of Rennes): ‘Golding and the art of the novel: mapping a territory of limited understanding’

10.30-11am Tea and Biscuits (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House)

11-12.15pm Plenary Address (2): John Carey (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)

12.30-4pm Excursion to William Golding’s home, Tullimaar (including packed lunch)

4pm End of Conference

William Golding Digital Animation Competition

2011-05-17T10:17:00.003+01:00

The William Golding Digital Animation Competition 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 except Lord of the Flies.

The winner will be announced at the William Golding Centenary Conference in September. First prize is £1000, with £750 for the runner up.

William Golding Centenary Conference

2011-05-10T09:32:00.004+01:00

The William Golding Centenary Conference will take place at the Cornwall Campus of the University of Exeter on 16-18 September. The registration form is here, and to pay by credit or debit card, go to this link.

The Golding family has kindly sponsored six postgraduate places. All fees and accommodation will be covered. If you are interested in applying, please email me.

Here is the provisional programme.

Friday 16 September, 2011

2-3pm Registration and Coffee (Refectory).
3-3.30pm Welcome Address (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
3.30-4.30pm Plenary Address (1): Judy Carver (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
4.30-6pm Presentations (1): Lord of the Flies
(Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
Nick Groom (University of Exeter): ‘Rings and Flies: Lords of ’54’
Aba-Carina Parlog (West University of Timisoara): ‘The Chthonian and the
Transcendental as Poles of Insular Conflict’
Yasunori Sugimura (Otaru University of Commerce): ‘Environmental Destruction
and Self-Destruction in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies’
6-8pm Wine Reception (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House)
8pm Dinner (Refectory)

Saturday 17 September, 2011

9-10.30am Presentations (2): Biography and Reputation
(Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
John Cox: ‘William Golding at Bishop Wordsworth School’
Nick Turner (Manchester Metropolitan University): ‘William Golding: Literary
Reputation and the Canon’
Sandra Josipović (University of Belgrade): ‘The Reception of William Golding’s
Work in Serbian Literary Criticism’
10.30-11am Tea and Biscuits (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House)
11-12.30pm Presentations (3): Early Fiction
(Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
Charlotte Sleigh (University of Kent): ‘“There is another smell of a nobody”:
William Golding and the man who wasn’t there’
Robert Vuckovich: ‘Castaway Piggy’
Miles Leeson (University of Portsmouth): ‘Fall Out: The impact of Hitler on the early
Fiction of William Golding and Iris Murdoch’
12.30-2pm Buffet Lunch (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House)
2-3.30pm Presentations (4): Pincher Martin and The Spire (Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
Mark Rawlinson (University of Leicester): ‘Pincher Martin and Narratives of the Second
World War at Sea’
Virginia Tiger (Rutgers University): ‘Back to the Beginning, On to the End: A Rhetorical
Analysis of Pincher Martin and Fire Down Below’
Kazunari Miyahara (Yamaguchi University): ‘Pride and Prejudice of Readers in and of
The Spire’
3.30-4pm Tea and Biscuits (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House)
4-5.30pm Presentations (5): Darkness Visible and Visionary Experience
(Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
Cumhur Yilmaz Madran (Pamukkale University): ‘A Postmodern Madness in Golding’s
Darkness Visible’
Nadia D’Amelio (University of Mons): ‘Holy Geometry in Golding’s Darkness Visible’
Roger Kojecký (The Christian Literary Studies Group): ‘Spiritual Realism: Epiphany in
Golding’s novels’
7pm Gala Dinner (Refectory)

Sunday 18 September, 2011

9-10.30am Presentations (6): The Paper Men and the Art of the Novel
(Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
Miroslawa Buchholtz (Nicolas Copernicus University): ‘Auto/Biographical
Trans/Actions in The Paper Men’
Stephen Roberts: ‘The Papyrus Men — Golding’s modified and condensed “Egyptian
Book of the Dead”’
Nicole Terrien (University of Rennes): ‘Golding and the art of the novel: mapping a
territory of limited understanding’
10.30-11am Tea and Biscuits (Boardroom Foyer, Tremough House)
11-12.15pm Plenary Address (2): John Carey
(Chapel Lecture Theatre, Tremough House)
12.30-4pm Excursion to William Golding’s home, Tullimaar (including packed lunch)
4pm End of Conference

Judy Carver's The Children of Lovers

2011-05-02T15:14:00.006+01:00

Congratulations to Judy Carver, whose long-awaited memoir The Children of Lovers has been published to enthusiastic reviews.

Helen Taylor in the Independent.
Jane Shilling in the Telegraph.
Molly McCloskey in the Irish Times.
Penelope Lively in the Spectator.
Ian Sansom in the Guardian.
Claire Harman in the Evening Standard.

William Golding Centenary Conference

2011-02-12T07:47:00.005Z

Plans for the William Golding Centenary Conference 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 here for regular conference updates. If you would like to join and can't work out how, please email me and I will arrange it.

The call for papers has a deadline of 31 March 2011.

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.

Speakers will include:

Nadia D'Amelio (University of Mons)
Roger Kojecky (The Christian Literary Studies Group)
Nick Groom (University of Exeter)
Mark Rawlinson (University of Leicester)
Charlotte Sleigh (University of Kent)
Sola Ogunbayo (Redeemer's University, Nigeria)
Miroslawa Buchholtz (Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland)
Robert Vuckovitch
John Cox

Judy Carver's Memoir

2010-09-20T08:47:00.003+01:00

There was a good article in yesterday's Observer about Judy Carver's forthcoming memoir of her father, The Children of Lovers. The book will be published in May, but in the meantime Judy offers some glimpses of her childhood experiences:

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 Pincher Martin, 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."

The Observer 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 centenary conference (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.

Golding and the Age of Anxiety

2010-08-29T15:56:00.004+01:00

Here (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 Monitor interview, but it contains some intriguing bits and pieces, such as footage of A S Byatt singing the praises of Lord of the Flies.

BBC Monitor Interview, 1959

2010-08-19T20:24:00.002+01:00

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 Free Fall. It can be viewed here.

Facebook revisited

2010-06-03T19:59:00.005+01:00

The official William Golding fanpage on Facebook has migrated to here.

Golding Panel at NeMLA, April 2011

2010-06-03T19:55:00.002+01:00

Details here of a proposed panel on William Golding at the next NeMLA convention in New Brunswick, 7-10 April 2011.

William Golding on Facebook

2010-05-16T20:49:00.003+01:00

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 here.

Golding and the Sea

2010-05-13T14:43:00.003+01:00

Thanks to my colleague Paul Williams for sending the link to the BBC's Art of the Sea. The section on Golding is over 5 minutes long, and starts at about 34 minutes.

Neanderthals, Cannibalism, Interbreeding

2010-05-06T21:43:00.003+01:00

I have blogged previously about recent archaeological discoveries which support William Golding's contention in The Inheritors that Homo Sapiens killed and ate 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.

Evidence from DNA analysis claims to identify the extent of this interbreeding. According to newly published research, 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.'

Golding Memorial Lecture by John Carey

2010-01-11T10:45:00.003Z

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 wgoldinglecture@exeter.ac.uk

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, William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies, is the first biography of the author, and draws almost entirely on materials never before made public.

Born in Cornwall in 1911, William Golding is the county’s most distinguished author. His first novel, Lord of the Flies, was an immediate success. He went on to write twelve more novels, including the Booker Prize-winning Rites of Passage. 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.

Lord of the Flies: 'Inaccurate and erratic sentence structure'

2009-11-12T08:45:00.003Z

Today's Times reports 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 Lord of the Flies 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.

William Golding Centenary Conference: Call for Papers

2009-09-21T13:37:00.007+01:00

The William Golding Centenary Conference
University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus
16-18 September 2011
Plenary speakers: John Carey, Judy Carver.

CALL FOR PAPERS

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 Cornwall Campus. 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 family home, a film screening, and an exhibition of unpublished manuscripts and memorabilia.

Although he is still best remembered for Lord of the Flies, 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.

Papers are invited on any aspect of William Golding’s life and work. Topics which may be covered include, but are not restricted to:

Lord of the Flies and its afterlives
Golding and women
Golding among his contemporaries
The rational and the religious
Golding and the state of the nation
Golding's non-fictional writings
Childhood and innocence
Golding and war
Golding's narrative techniques
Golding and travel
Golding's influence/influences on Golding

For further information, please contact the conference organisers, Prof. Tim Kendall and Dr. Adeline Johns-Putra.

The deadline for proposals (approx. 250 words for 20-minute papers) is 31 March 2011. Please email or post proposals to the conference organisers: Tim Kendall, Department of English, University of Exeter, Queen’s Building, The Queen’s Drive, Exeter EX4 4QH; or Adeline Johns-Putra, Department of English, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9EZ.

William Golding in Wiltshire

2009-09-17T13:36:00.006+01:00

29 The Green, Marlborough, reproduced with kind permission of the Golding Family.

Here is my article for BBC Wiltshire on William Golding's links with the county.

John Carey at Wells

2009-09-17T13:31:00.002+01:00

John Carey will be speaking about William Golding at the Wells Festival of Literature, St Cuthbert's Church, Wells, on Friday 16 October at 7.30pm.

John Carey on Front Row

2009-08-25T21:12:00.003+01:00

Courtesy of BBC's iPlayer, here (from 0.45) is John Carey interviewed by Mark Lawson on Radio 4's Front Row last night. Carey discusses, inter alia, the 'rape story', the struggle to find a publisher for Lord of the Flies, 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.

Publication of Lord of the Flies

2009-08-23T09:38:00.007+01:00

After last week's sensationalised rape story, today's Sunday Times begins its serialisation of John Carey's forthcoming biography with his account of the publication of Lord of the Flies. Much of this has been done before, not least by Golding's editor at Faber, Charles Monteith, who tells how he rescued 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':

Dear Sir

I send you the typescript of my novel 'Strangers from Within' which might be defined as an allegorical interpretation of a stock situation.

I hope you will feel able to publish it.

Yours faithfully

William Golding

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.

Update --- thanks to Sean Hewitt for pointing out that there is now a link to the Sunday Times serialisation: here.

William Golding's 'Rape': Amor Vinshit Omnia

2009-08-17T15:43:00.028+01:00

More reaction today to the Sunday Times's story 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 Guardian online, 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?'

Here are the crucial paragraphs in Richard Brooks's Sunday Times article:

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”.

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.

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?”

The word 'rape', as used here, does not seem to carry all its modern connotations. Can it be 'attempted rape' if Golding 'felt sure' that Dora wanted 'heavy sex'? 'Rape', in this context, would seem to mean 'have rough sex with'. 'The act of taking anything by force', the OED gives as its first definition. There the confusion becomes apparent. The boy tries to take the girl by force, initially believing that she consents to and even welcomes that force. Eventually realising his mistake, he angrily reassures her that he doesn't want to hurt her.

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.

If any good comes from these headlines, it must be that it will send readers back to The Pyramid (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.

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 The Pyramid as any.

Pre-publicity for Sunday Times Serialisation

2009-08-16T14:26:00.011+01:00

A story in today's Sunday Times 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.

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 Sunday Times 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 The Pyramid.

There is a lively discussion in the comments section over whether Golding was accurate in using the word 'rape'.

Update: my view of the 'rape' story is here.

John Carey's Biography

2009-08-09T09:27:00.007+01:00

The official publication date for John Carey's biography is 3 September. On 29 September at 6.30pm John Carey will be talking with Mark Lawson 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.

According to Faber's synopsis, 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.'

I have one reservation. The subtitle (The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies) 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 Lord of the Flies. But the subtitle narrows Golding's achievement unnecessarily. Was the decision made by the biographer or the marketing department?

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 The Pyramid; the meeting of Sammy and Taffy (both already engaged to others) in Free Fall; the alcoholic novelist wealthy on account of one book's success in The Paper Men. At last we will find out when and where (and whether) the autobiography stopped.

Update: See here for my view of the 'rape' story.

William Golding Website

2009-06-25T20:58:00.004+01:00

The official William Golding website reports a new association with the Centre for South West Writing at the University of Exeter and the Department of English at Exeter's Cornwall Campus. Students from the campus have contributed three new essays to the website, focusing on Poems (1934), The Spire (1964) and The Pyramid (1967).

The centenary conference will take place at the campus in September 2011.

Neanderthals on the menu

2009-05-21T09:46:00.006+01:00

William Golding's The Inheritors (1955) describes the destruction of a Neanderthal community at the hands of Homo sapiens. In one particularly horrific scene, two adult Neanderthals try to rescue a child who has been captured by this strange and brutal race. Lok, the male, is puzzled that he can smell the child everywhere among the Homo sapiens' dwellings, and yet she is nowhere to be found. The reader understands the horror which is beyond Lok's comprehension: the Neanderthal child has been eaten.

A recent story in The Guardian supports Golding's recreation: the discovery of a Neanderthal bone covered in cut marks similar to those left when meat is stripped has led one scientist to conclude that 'Neanderthals met a violent end at our hands and in some cases we ate them'.

William Golding and the U-boats

2009-05-17T13:58:00.005+01:00

Preparing for my talk on 'William Golding and War' at the Daphne du Maurier Festival in Fowey last Thursday, I became increasingly intrigued by his experiences with U-boats. He was born in Newquay in 1911, at his mother's family's B&B, 47 Mount Wise, which is now the Blenheim Hotel. Several of his earliest memories are of sitting at its bay windows watching the shipping as it came in and out of harbour.

During the First World War, the U-boats caused havoc along the North Cornish coast, sinking coal ships and fishing vessels alike. Not far down the coast in Zennor, D. H. Lawrence was given three days to leave the county under the Defence of the Realm Act in 1917, on the off-chance that he and his German wife were signalling to the U-boats.

Golding's family kept him away from the gruesome sights of the harbour, but luckily he had the next best thing: an elder brother, Jose, who would report back with all the inappropriate details. Usually, the U-boat would surface next to its target, order the crew into the lifeboats, and only then sink the ship. On one occasion, the gentlemen's agreement had been broken. Jose had seen a lifeboat brought into port, full of blood and bullet-holes and 'bits of men'.

Golding himself believed that from his 'box seat' in the house he had seen a U-boat being sunk by 'three small naval vessels' which dropped their depth charges in turn, making the sea climb 'like a fist':

The surface of the sea was calm again. Smooth, slick mirrors enlarged themselves [...], ran together, became a ring of silvered water. A huge bubble burst on the surface, another and another. When they had disappeared, black blobs and speckles were floating in the ring. Presently the three little ships went away, follow my leader, and disappeared again round Trevose Head. (Areté, 2)

At the start of the Second World War, Golding joined the navy as a common seaman, and took the exam for promotion to officer. He did well enough to prompt Lord Cherwell's research establishment to give him the task of 'trying to invent things that would sink submarines'. Golding's involvement came to an end when he 'put a lot of detonators in [his] pocket and dropped a torch battery in with them and blew [himself] up'. After that, it seems that everyone agreed that perhaps he should do something else instead. Back in the navy, he served on the Atlantic convoys, helped to hunt the Bismarck, captained a rocket craft at the invasion of Walcheren, and provided naval support during the D-Day landings. He probably encountered U-boats in those years, too, but to find out for certain we will have to wait for John Carey's biography, due from Faber this September.

Golding and War

2009-05-02T19:06:00.005+01:00

I will be speaking on 'Golding and War' at Fowey Town Hall as part of the Daphne du Maurier Festival on Thursday 14 May, 2.30pm. My talk will consider the influence on Golding's fiction (especially Lord of the Flies) of his Cornish background and his experiences during the World Wars.

More photos from inaugural lecture

2009-03-23T15:43:00.006Z

First photograph, from the left: Adeline Johns-Putra, Tim Kendall, Judy Carver, Helen Taylor, Rick Rylance.

Second photograph: Jessica Gardner, Judy Carver.

Third photograph: Adeline Johns-Putra, Terrell Carver.

Inaugural William Golding Memorial Lecture

2009-03-20T14:34:00.004Z

The inaugural William Golding Memorial Lecture took place at the University of Exeter on 5 March. Craig Raine (New College, Oxford) spoke on the topic 'William Golding: First and Last'. Guests-of-honour were Judy and Terrell Carver, Golding's daughter and son-in-law. The university's Vice-Chancellor, Steve Smith, hosted the event, which was organised by the Centre for South West Writing. Here in this photograph you can see Judy and Craig with yours truly in the middle.

Craig gave a wonderful talk on Golding's fiction, conveying at once the precision of its descriptions and the grand ambition of its thematic preoccupations.

The lecture will take place annually, alternating between Exeter and Tremough, our Cornwall Campus just north of Falmouth. Golding spent his final years in Perranarworthal, a hamlet on the road between Truro and Falmouth, so it is fitting that the Centenary Conference in September 2011 will be held at Tremough.