The Pyramid: A Literary Coming-of-Age Tale – Three Episodes of Self-Discovery (A Harvest/Hbj Book) - Softcover

William Golding

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0156747030 ISBN 13: 9780156747035

Publisher: Mariner Books, 1968

Synopsis

Set in the superficially placid English village of Stillbourne, The Pyramid represents three episodes in the life of Oliver-as a schoolboy, an undergraduate, and a mature young man. A compelling tale about Oliver's increasing awareness of the deeper meanings of the relationships and events of his youth.

About this title

About the Author

William Golding’s Pincher Martin (1956)

Pincher is a selfish man and a thief, greedy fellow. He fanatically keeps asserting his autonomy and resists the power of God, because he himself wants to be the dominant force. His ‘story of life’ is trying to subject others to his will. Martin perseveres in his defiance of God no matter how futile and painful its consequences, thus demonstrating free will at its most perverse. Martin goes on asserting his autonomy even when he is reduced to a pair of claws, even when the claws are  worn away too, and Pincher Martin as a personality is annihilated.

His dogmatic attitude, his ‘enjoyment’ in challenging God; - a risk taking activity which expresses his inner need to demonstrate his strength and masculinity – are very typical for the Aggressive Style of character.

Born in Cornwall, England, William Golding started writing at the age of seven. Though he studied natural sciences at Oxford to please his parents, he also studied English and published his first book, a collection of poems, before finishing college. He served in the Royal Navy during World War II, participating in the Normandy invasion. Golding's other novels include Lord of the Flies, The Inheritors, The Free Fall, The Spire, Rites of Passage (Booker Prize), and The Double Tongue.

Review

Yet once more, o ye laurels? No, not from dissertation writers and literary quarterlies, who may not know quite what to make of Golding's latest. A careful, subdued story of one young man's passage from adolescence to reminiscence, from the 20's through the 40's, from the village of Stillbourne to Oxford and back, The Pyramid builds itself with dogged detachment and gradual accretions of meaning. Oliver, son of a limp pharmacist, has a few initiatory bouts with a bitter young town sexpot; an unwilling romp in the town musical show; and (the best part of the three) violin lessons from Miss Dawlish, a town eccentric beguiled by her driving teacher. Demands are made on this unresponsive, not terribly interesting hero, who tells it all in a first person sometimes arch, sometimes fine. If there's an allegory here, it's less cut and dried and ready for exegesis than is usual with Golding. Way of All Flesh rendered by Updike, the labellers might say...meanwhile, it can and will be read at face value, no great shakes but a pleasant climb. (Kirkus Reviews)

Edition details

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Publication date: 1968
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0156747030
• ISBN 13: 9780156747035
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192