When Golding was an undergraduate at Oxford University, he
showed some of his poems to a friend. The friend was struck by the
quality of Golding's work, and sent a selection of poems to
Macmillan & Co., where he knew an editor. Poems by
W.G. Golding was published in the autumn of 1934, when their author
was just twenty-three.
In later years Golding felt regretful that they had been
published, and is even recorded as having bought a second-hand copy
of them so that he could tear the book up. (This was before he
found out it was a collector's item of some considerable value.)
However, the poems are accomplished and individual.
While they are not as forceful and compelling as the
novels, these early poems are recognisably the works of a
determined, independent and accomplished writer.
William Golding Limited has established a collaboration with
the Centre for South West Writing based at the Streatham and
Tremough campuses of the University of Exeter featuring original
writing by graduate students. Read 'The Sea is Roaring in My Blood:
The Poetry of William Golding' (PDF, 73 Kb) by Jacqueline
Vigilanti, MA student, University of Exeter, Cornwall
Campus
John Carey's new biography of William Golding
Drawing almost entirely on materials that have never before been
made public, John Carey, the distinguished writer and critic, sheds
new light on Golding. Through hundreds of letters, unpublished
works and Golding's intimate journals, Carey draws a revelatory and
definitive portrait of an extraordinary man. In an absorbing and
compelling narrative, he reveals 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.
Follow the link below to hear 'audio snippets' where Carey reads
from his highly praised new biography.
William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies