Golding manuscripts and letters on show to mark 70th anniversary of the publication of Lord of the Flies

Notebooks belonging to the Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding, along with letters to the editor who helped him make Lord of the Flies a global success, will be on show at a new exhibition to mark 70 years since the novel was published.

Also on display at the University of Exeter will be drafts and correspondence relating to Golding’s other novels and works.

Lord of the Flies, published in September 1954, was rejected by at least seven publishers before acceptance by Faber & Faber. The University of Exeter holds the manuscript of Lord of the Flies as part of the William Golding Literary Archive in its Special Collections. Written in a school exercise book with the cover torn off, it differs from the published version in crucial respects. Whereas the novel starts with a group of boys on an island, the manuscript describes how they had been evacuated out, in the midst of a nuclear war, and their plane shot down in an aerial battle. 

Professor Tim Kendall from the University of Exeter said: “At the time of writing Lord of the Flies, Golding was an obscure 40-something teacher. He had already written three full length manuscripts and had been sending those out to publishers over several years. No one seemed interested. Yet within three weeks of the novel’s publication, film studios were enquiring over the rights, and within a decade it was established as a modern classic.”

William Golding’s daughter Judy Carver said: “The Golding family are grateful to the University of Exeter for their care of the manuscripts and typescripts on loan to the University. They also welcome this opportunity for these materials to be viewed by a wider audience. They appreciate the careful work that has brought the exhibition contents to public view.”

Caroline Walter, Interim Head of Heritage Collections at the University of Exeter, said: “This is an exciting opportunity to unite archival material from two distinct collections in Exeter, allowing visitors to delve into the rich literary heritage of the Southwest and illuminating Golding’s creative journey.”

The exhibition will be on display from 24th September to 15 December,10am to 5pm daily, in the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, Old Library, University of Exeter. In addition, display panels featuring information about the Golding papers held at the University of Exeter will be on show across Exeter from 2^nd September to 31^st October, and there will be free public events in the city this autumn.

The literary archive, which is on loan to the University from the Golding family archive, is usually open for members of the public to view by appointment in the Special Collections Reading Room. 

More information on the events accompanying the exhibition can be found on https://specialcollectionsarchive.exeter.ac.uk/exhibits/show/william_golding