威廉·戈尔丁（William Golding，1911～1994）英国小说家。生于英格兰康沃尔郡一个知识分子家庭，自小爱好文学。1930年遵父命入牛津大学学习自然科学，两年后转攻文学。1934年发表了处女作——一本包括29首小诗的诗集（麦克米伦当代诗丛之一）。1935年毕业于牛津大学，获文学士学位，此后在一家小剧团里当过编导和演员。 194o年参加皇家海军，亲身投入了当时的战争。 1945年退役，到学校教授英国文学，并坚持业余写作。1954年发表了长篇小说《蝇王》，获得巨大的声誉。1955年成为皇家文学会成员。1961年获牛津大学文学硕士学位，同年辞去教职，专门从事写作。

戈尔丁是个多产作家，继《蝇王》之后，他发表的长篇小说有《继承者》（1955）、《品彻·马丁）（1956）、《自由堕落》（1959）、《塔尖》（1964）、《金字塔》（1967）、《看得见的黑暗》（1979）、《航程祭典》（1980）、《纸人》（1984）、《近方位）（1987）、《巧语》（1995）等。其中《航行祭典》获布克·麦克内尔图书奖。此外，他还写过剧本、散文和短篇小说，并于1982 年出版了文学评论集《活动的靶子》。

戈尔丁在西方被称为“寓言编撰家”，他运用现实主义的叙述方法编写寓言神话，承袭西方伦理学的传统，着力表现“人心的黑暗”这一主题，表现出作家对人类未来的关切。由于他的小说“具有清晰的现实主义叙述技巧以及虚构故事的多样性与普遍性，阐述了今日世界人类的状况”，1983年获诺贝尔文学奖。

William Golding's unforgettable classic of boyhood adventure and the savagery of humanity comes to Penguin Classics in a stunning Graphic Deluxe Edition with a new foreword by Lois Lowry As provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, Lord of the Flies continues to ignite passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. William Golding's compelling story about a group of very ordinary boys marooned on a coral island has been labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, and even a vision of the apocalypse. But above all, it has earned its place as one of the indisputable classics of the twentieth century for readers of any age. This Penguin Classics Graphic Deluxe Edition features an array of special features to supplement the novel, including a foreword by Lois Lowry, an introduction by Stephen King, an essay by E. M. Forster, an essay on teaching and reading the novel and suggestions for further exploration by scholar Jennifer Buehler, and an extended note by E. L. Epstein, the publisher of the first American paperback edition of Lord of the Flies. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.