Biography Bares Lord of the Flies Author's Demons

In an unpublished autobiography, the author of Lord of the Flies described his attempted rape of a 15-year-old when he was about 18, the Times of London reports. While walking with the girl, he “felt sure she wanted heavy sex, as this was visibly written on her pert, ripe and desirable mouth,” William Golding writes in the memoir. They wrestled “like enemies”; he “tried unhandily to rape her.”

Golding “was aware of and repelled by the cruelty in himself,” writes biographer John Carey, who was afforded access to Golding’s unseen archives, including three unpublished novels, a pair of memoirs, and journals. The Nobel Prize-winning novelist also describes creating a Lord of the Flies-like scenario with boys he taught: He would “stir up antagonism” and watch their behavior.
(More William Golding stories.)