The Novels of William Golding

This is the work of a very well-informed, well-read scholar on perhaps the most important novelist of the white world of this period. She has a thorough knowledge of all the novels as well as of the biblical symbolism, imagery and myths that Golding so effectively used in his fiction for the presentation of the problem of evil and the modern man’s predicament. The writing is sophisticated, clear and has the convincing force of logical argument throughout. A concise, but substantial treatment of a subject which will be of interest to a broad cross-section of the reading public. It is a scholarly work, a detailed and methodical approach to the subject matter, from an author obviously well-qualified to write in this field, and as such, this will be of interest to students and teachers of modern literature. This is a work of high quality and it provides the reader with a lively, informed and well-balanced study of perhaps the most polemical aspect of this fascinating and enduring modern novelist. The present book is clearly conceived and systematically executed, it being divided into neatly demarcated parts. Mrs. Kulkarni shows conclusive evidence that she has read Golding’s works and other relevant background material with understanding and insight. She has evidently profited from her personal encounter with Golding and Golding scholars during her sojourn in Britain. The book gives a clear exposition of the propensity of human nature to evil as exemplified in Golding’s fiction. This book is a thorough and competently researched piece of work. It contains a fine critical analysis and exposition of the evil in man and of the four important determining factors in twentieth century western society, namely, war and violence, sex and sexuality, religion and class distinctions which have resulted from it. The author has dealt with this complex problem very ably and has been perceptive enough in noting that it is not without a solution. The novelist may not accept the traditional moral and religious solutions to a good life, and Golding’s recommendation of the moral duty of man to undergo evolution and emerge a man to undergo evolution and emerge a homo moralis, is significantly observed.