Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Lord of the Flies

(penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)

William Golding, E. L. Epstein

Penguin Publishing Group · Print & ebook · October 1, 1999

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Who it’s for
A serious presentation of a familiar classic, built for close reading and discussion.
Genres
The Classics, Dystopian, Literary Fiction
Published
Penguin Publishing Group, October 1, 1999

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For younger readers: The Giver, Gulliver's Travels

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About this book

Lord of the Flies remains as provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, igniting passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. Though critically acclaimed, it was largely ignored upon its initial publication. Yet soon it became a cult favorite among both students and literary critics who compared it to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye in its influence on modern thought and literature.

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William Golding's compelling story about a group of very ordinary small boys marooned on a coral island has become a modern classic. At first it seems as though it is all going to be great fun; but the fun before long becomes furious and life on the island turns into a nightmare of panic and death. As ordinary standards of behaviour collapse, the whole world the boys know collapses with them—the world of cricket and homework and adventure stories—and another world is revealed beneath, primitive and terrible. Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies has established itself as a true classic. "Lord of the Flies is one of my favorite books. That was a big influence on me as a teenager, I still read it every couple of years." —Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games "As exciting, relevant, and thought-provoking now as it was when Golding published it in 1954." —Stephen King

Why This Clicks

A serious presentation of a familiar classic, built for close reading and discussion.

Come here for

  • classic text in a serious edition
  • conversation-ready literary touchstone

Expect

  • layered critical framing
  • cultural-literacy payoff

Where it sits

Dystopian80%
The Classics54%
Literary Fiction36%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • The Classics
  • Literary Fiction
  • Psychological Fiction
Authors
William Golding, E. L. Epstein
Publisher
Penguin Publishing Group
Published
October 1, 1999
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
The Classics