Lord of the Flies

Background

Published in 1954, Lord of the Flies was Golding's first novel. Golding got the idea for the plot from The Coral Island, a children's adventure novel with a focus on Christianity and the supposed civilising influence of British colonialism. Golding thought that the book was unrealistic, and asked his wife if it would be a good idea if he "wrote a book about children on an island, children who behave in the way children really would behave?"[3]

The novel's title is a literal translation of Beelzebub, a biblical demon considered the god of pride and warfare.[4] Golding, who was a philosophy teacher before becoming a Royal Navy lieutenant, experienced war firsthand, and commanded a landing craft in the Normandy landings during D-Day in 1944. After the war ended and Golding returned to England, the world was dominated by the Cold War and the threat of nuclear annihilation, which led Golding to examine the nature of humanity and went on to inspire Lord of the Flies.[5]

Lord of the Flies was rejected by many publishers before being accepted by Faber and Faber. An initial rejection labelled the book as "absurd ... Rubbish & dull".[6] The book was originally titled Strangers from Within, which was considered "too abstract and too explicit"[7] and was eventually changed to Lord of the Flies.[8][9]

Editor Charles Monteith worked with Golding on several major edits, including removing the entire first section which described an evacuation from nuclear war.[6] [7] The character of Simon was also heavily edited to remove an interaction with a mysterious figure who is implied to be God.[10] Ultimately, Golding accepted the edits, and wrote that "I've lost any kind of objectivity I ever had over this novel and can hardly bear to look at it."[11] The edited manuscripts are available to view at the University of Exeter library.[12]


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