by William Golding

After earning his degree from England's Oxford University in 1935, William Golding became a schoolmaster at Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury, where he taught English and Greek literature in translation. Soon afterward, the outbreak of World War II inspired him to join the Royal Navy, first as an ordinary seaman but later as the commander of a small rocket-launching craft directly involved in the sinking of the German ship the Bismarck and the notorious D-Day assault. From these experiences-supplemented by elements from his days as a schoolmaster-Golding found inspiration to create his landmark novel Lord of the Flies.

Events in History at the Time of the Novel

The Lend-Lease Act. After spending the first year of his wartime service at a top-secret research station in England, Golding was sent to Scotland to learn the fine art of minesweeping. Thereafter he...