Concetti Chiave
- Golding's novels emphasize that man is inherently savage, with civilization imposing necessary moral laws.
- He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983, recognized for his realistic narrative and mythic universality.
- Born in Cornwall in 1911, Golding shifted from science to English literature at Oxford, graduating in 1935.
- His wartime experience in the Royal Navy profoundly influenced his views on human nature's violence and destructiveness.
- Golding's notable works include "Lord of the Flies" (1954), exploring themes of inherent human savagery.
William Golding (1911-1993)
The passage of the novel reveals one of the principal theories of Golding: man is not innocent, not even in his childhood; he kills the instinct of savagery, of evil within himself. Only civilized life imposes rules of democracy and co-operation. In isolation, far from civilized society, man reverts to his inmost nature, free from any moral laws. A world of peace and natural love is only mere illusion. In 1983 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature "for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human in the world of today". William Golding was born in Cornwall in 1911. He attended Marlborough College, a public school, and then entered Brasenose College, Oxford, to read science. After two years, however, he decided to change to the study of the humanities, specializing in English literature, and taking his degree in 1935.
Until 1940 he worked as a schoolteacher, then he joined the Royal Navy, where he saw active service and participated in a number of important actions. The war was a decisive event in his growth to maturity: it left him with a shocked sense of the violence and destructiveness of human nature, which is one of the central themes of all his books. He , in fact, wrote in one of his essays: "Man is a fallen being. He is gripped to original sin. His nature is sinful". After the war he returned to school teaching in a grammar school in Salisburg, in the south-west of England. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1983, and was knighted by the Queen in 1988. He died at Falmouth (Cornwall) on June 19th 1993.
Among his works we have:
The Inheritors (1955)
Pincher Martin
Free Fall
The Spire
Lord of the Flies (1954).
Domande da interrogazione
- Qual è una delle principali teorie di William Golding?
- Quale evento ha influenzato profondamente la maturazione di Golding?
- Quali riconoscimenti ha ricevuto William Golding durante la sua vita?
Una delle principali teorie di Golding è che l'uomo non è innocente, nemmeno durante l'infanzia, e che in assenza di una società civilizzata, l'uomo ritorna alla sua natura più intima, libera da leggi morali.
La guerra è stata un evento decisivo nella crescita di Golding, lasciandolo con una percezione scioccata della violenza e della distruttività della natura umana, temi centrali nei suoi libri.
William Golding ha ricevuto il Premio Nobel per la Letteratura nel 1983 e fu nominato cavaliere dalla Regina nel 1988.
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