riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) (10/08/83)
I assume that all those to whom it matters even as a bit of trivia have
heard by now that William Golding, author of "The Lord of the Flies", is
the 1983 winner of the Nobel prize for literature. I recall reading TLotF
in one sitting when I was in high school and being very impressed by it.
Nevertheless, my initial reaction when I heard of Golding's selection
was "William Golding? Why him?" This was compounded by some talk on the
news about dissent on the Nobel committee as to whether or not Golding
really is a writer of Nobel prize stature. It was also mentioned that
his selection surprised many people because it was assumed that if any
Englishman deserved the prize, it was the older and much more prolific
Graham Greene.
Anyway, to get to the point for which I am posting this to the net: has
anyone out there read anything else by Golding? Is it just idle gossip-
mongering on the part of some of us to wonder whether or not he really
deserved the prize? Do disputes like this happen every year? I haven't
been paying attention to the prizes for long enough to know. I recall
that last year, when Garcia Marquez won the prize, there were a few
people who regretted that Jorge Luis Borges had been passed up again,
but no one suggested that Garcia Marquez didn't deserve the award; they
only felt that Borges might not live long enough to get another chance,
while Garcia Marquez is still relatively young. But what about Golding?
(Of course, I suppose that instead of posting this question to the net I
should really be hoofing it over to the library to check out Golding's
other books and see for myself.)
-- Prentiss Riddle
{ihnp4,kpno,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle
riddle@ut-sally.UUCPtsmith@laidbak.UUCP (Tim Smith) (10/09/83)
I have not read much by William Golding, certainly nothing recently, so no expert opinion on his quality from this source. I do have the impression, however, that he is one of a small group of writers in English who are extremely good technically, but who on account of subject matter, or perhaps popularity, or other factors (politics), are not considered to be "literary". John Fowles and Gore Vidal are others that come to mind. In any event, the news story that I read about the Golding selection was highly amusing, with members of the Swedish academy calling each other "fools" and "crackpots". The leader of the anti-Golding forces said that Golding was a writer of "no consequence at all". Given the undistinguished nature of many recent Nobel selections, that will certainly cause a great increase in Mr. Golding's popularity. Tim Smith (...!laidbak!tsmith)
trb@cbscd5.UUCP (10/12/83)
Concerning other books by Golding; I have read two of his
"older" works that I found very entertaining and thought
provoking. The first is "Pincher Martin" which is about
a survivor (?) of a torpedoed British destroyer who finds
himself on a small (6' x 6') rock in the middle of the
ocean (there is more to the story, but I do not want to
be a spoiler).
The second is "The Inheritors" which describes the rise of
the Neanderthals from the point of view of one of the "people"
in the tribe that they displace.
These are not light reading, but very enjoyable. His latest
(which I have not read) is "Darkness Visible". There are many
more which I have not been able to find in bookstores, but
a good library should have them (?).
I have not heard of any grumblings becasue of Golding winning
the prize, but I personally would have liked to have seen
John Gardner ("Grendel","The Sunshine Dialogues",etc.) receive
a posthumous award (is that done?).leimkuhl@uiuccsb.UUCP (10/20/83)
#R:ut-sally:-11700:uiuccsb:6000005:000:423 uiuccsb!leimkuhl Oct 19 19:31:00 1983 From the Wall Street Journal, I learned that the "anti-Golding forces" were a force of one. This lone academy member is a radical communist who's taste in literature lies with a French avante garde poet. The WSJ translated one random sentence from this poet's book as something like: The cow, the cow, the sheep rolling across the dark-light meadow swims. Right. Ben Leimkuhler (uiucdcs!uiuccsb!leimkuhl)