William Golding

by Kevin McCarron

"This new edition of William Golding includes an additional chapter on Golding's posthumous book The Double Tongue, and now critically examines all Golding's novels. It is a comprehensive study, questioning the status of Lord of the Flies as Golding's most popular and important work, and giving close attention as well to The Inheritors, Pincher Martin, The Spire and The Sea Trilogy. McCarron takes an interdisciplinary approach, placing particular emphasis on the anthropological perspective missing from many studies of Golding's writings. He also considers Golding's work from a number of critical standpoints, including the postcolonial discourse, offering readers an alternative to the usual liberal humanist approach. An in-depth evaluation of Golding's essays and travel journal provides new insight into the work of one of the twentieth-century's greatest writers." --Book Jacket.