Lord of the Flies

Author: William Golding

Genre: Allegorical novel

Publication Date: 1954

Overview

Lord of the Flies (1954) is a dystopian novel by William Golding, the Nobel Prize-winning Cornish author. A novel about a band of British boys stranded on a deserted island, it focuses on the efforts and outcomes of their attempts to govern themselves. In doing so, the novel focuses on dichotomies such as groupthink and individual thinking, rational and emotional decision making, and morality and immorality.

The novel is inspired by R.M Ballantyne’s nineteenth-century novel, The Coral Island. Indeed, the main characters’ names in Golding’s novel are similar to the names of the main characters in The Coral Island. Golding’s novel depicts a modern dystopian world, and the island is a microcosm of this world. The novel is widely read and highly regarded, and in 2005, it was listed in Time magazine’s 100 best English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005.

Lord of the Flies Biography

Lord of the Flies Characters

Lord of the Flies Summary and Analysis

Lord of the Flies Themes

Lord of the Flies Quotes

Lord of the Flies Discussion Questions