GOLDING, WILLIAM | Lord of the Flies. London: Faber and Faber, 1954

GOLDING, WILLIAM

Lord of the Flies. London: Faber and Faber, 1954

8vo, half-title; minor spotting to endpapers and edges. Publisher's red cloth, spine titled in white, dust-jacket; lower corners bumped, spine very slightly cocked, jacket price clipped with minor edgewear and spotting, and spine lightly browned.  

[With] Typed Letter Signed "William Golding" on Ebble Thatch letterhead, 1 page, dated 16 November [1969], with original postmarked envelope addressed in Golding's hand; letter folded.

First edition, accompanied by a humorous typed letter in response to a reader

The typed letter reads, in full: "Thank you for your letter; but I can't answer questions about Lord of the Flies because it's fifteen years since I last read the book and I've forgotten it. In any case, what's in a book is what the reader gets out of it, not what the author thinks he put into it, so your guess is as good as mine." 

While Golding was unwilling to offer his own analysis, other critics have not been so reticent: "Lord of the Flies is not an examination of the idiosyncratic nature of a group of young English boys, but of the essential nature of humanity itself, its predisposition to violence and cruelty when removed from the restraining influences of civilization..." (Kevin McCarron, Oxford DNB)

REFERENCE:

Gekoski and Grogan A2(a)