Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against this as a method, but it is not what English writers do. William Golding More Quotes by William Golding More Quotes From William Golding The man who tells the tale if he has a tale worth telling will know exactly what he is about and this business of the artist as a sort of starry-eyed inspired creature, dancing along, with his feet two or three feet above the surface of the earth, not really knowing what sort of prints he's leaving behind him, is nothing like the truth. William Golding artistmentwo Put simply the novel stands between us and the hardening concept of statistical man. There is no other medium in which we can live for so long and so intimately with a character. That is the service a novel renders. William Golding charactermenbook My father was very musical, and music plays quite a large part in my life. William Golding musicalplayfather I play the piano passionately and inaccurately. Indeed, I worked out the other day that of my seventy-five years; I have spent at least one year sitting on a piano stool. William Golding pianoplayyears The novel is very much alive, indeed. In Toronto at the Sixth Annual International Festival of Authors (October 1985) I listened to novelists by the dozen. William Golding torontonovelistsalive Beethoven for listening; Liszt, Chopin, and Beethoven for playing as well as Bach and Prokofiev and so on. If I kept going, this list would spiral. It's as wide as literature; in fact, it is probably wider. William Golding listsliteraturelistening I think there might even come a time when I would read Virgil again. Ovid's Metamorphoses, perhaps, not because the music goes round and round and never comes out, but because it's an extraordinary picture of ceaseless change that never comes to an end. William Golding metamorphosismightthinking I suppose I'd have to say that my favourite author is Homer. After Homer's Ilaid, I'd name The Odyssey, and then I'd mention a number of plays of Euripides. William Golding namesplaynumbers One thing should be put firmly. Where people have commented on that novel [The Paper Men], they generally criticize the poor academic, Rick L. Tucker, who is savaged by the author, Wilfred Barclay. I don't think people have noticed that I have been far ruder about Barclay than I have been about Tucker. Tucker is a fool, but Barclay is a swine. The author really gets his come-uppance. William Golding menpeoplethinking Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood. William Golding cuttingpigsblood I suppose drama can either take the place of a novel or can be very closely allied with it. It's quite customary to turn a successful novel into a film or a television series because you can dramatize and pictorialize a novel. William Golding successfuldramatelevision When you take a child who's hollering like hell, sit him on your knee, and say "once upon a time", you stop him hollering. As long as you go on telling him a story, he will listen. Novelists who neglect this fundamental effect do so at their peril. They become what is known as the experimental novelist, and an experimental novel is not really a novel at all. William Golding once-upon-a-timelongchildren I really feel the novel has certain conveniences about it and has something so fundamental about it you could almost say that as long as there is paper, there is going to be the novel. William Golding paperfundamentalslong People don't help much. William Golding helpingpeople You'll get back to where you came from. William Golding tall-treesget-back They looked at each other, baffled, in love and hate. William Golding baffledhateliterature If I blow the conch and they don't come back; then we've had it. We shan't keep the fire going. We'll be like animals. We'll never be rescued." "If you don't blow, we'll soon be animals anyway. William Golding fireblowanimal Couldn't a fire outrun a galloping horse? William Golding gallopinghorsefire For a small island, the place is remarkably diverse. Writers tend to see things from their own points of view, looking in one direction very much. William Golding one-directionviewsislands They accepted the pleasures of morning, the bright sun, the whelming sea and sweet air, as a time when play was good and life so full that hope was not necessary and therefore forgotten. William Golding airmorningsweet
