Best-known for the cruel moral vision of such novels as Lord of the Flies, The Inheritors, Pincher Martin, Free Fall, The Spire, Close Quarters, and Fire Down Below, William Golding expressed a view of humanity that was essentially religious, torn between the brutal realities of good and evil. A Nobel Laureate, he also won the Booker Prize for Rites of Passage.



Distinguished critic Virginia Tiger argues that his writings explore themes of human destiny and vision. Drawing upon her own personal recollections of conversations with Golding and quoting from her correspondence with him, she shows how structure supports content in this extraordinary body of work. The only book to offer a complete commentary on his entire literary oeuvre.

Virginia Tiger

Virginia Tiger was professor of English, a chair of the department, and an associate dean of the faculty of arts and sciences, Rutgers University-Newark. A William Golding and Doris Lessing scholar, she was the author of four books.