Golding begins the book with his essay on the Battle of
Thermopylae -- the heroic last stand of the 300 Spartans under
Leonidas in 480 B.C.E. against the entire Persian army. Golding's
reasons for choosing 'The Hot Gates' (the English translation of
Thermopylae) as the title for the whole collection are perhaps
explained by a few sentences from this essay:
'Neither you nor Leonidas nor anyone else could foresee that here
thirty years' time was won for shining Athens and all Greece and
all humanity.'
'A little of Leonidas lies in the fact that I can go where
I like and write what I like. He contributed to set us
free.
Golding listed his hobbies as music, chess, sailing, archaeology
and classical Greek (which he taught himself). Many of these
subjects appear in his essay collections The Hot
Gates and A Moving Target.
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 Through hundreds of letters, unpublished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
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies, published in 1954, is Golding's best
known work, selling over a milliion copies so far worldwide. John
Carey's new biography William Golding is the first study
of 'The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies'. Follow the link below to
buy this book, first published by Faber & Faber in 2009, and
now out in paperback.
Buy John Carey's definitive biography in paperback