Product Description
Politics and History in William Golding provides a muchneeded politicized and historicized reading of William Golding'snovels as a counter to previous, universalizing criticism. PaulCrawford argues that an understanding of fantastic and carnivalesquemodes in Golding's work is vital if we are to appreciate fully hisinterrogation of twentieth-century life. ... Read more

Product Description
Key features of this text: *How to study the text *Author and historical background *General and detailed summaries *Commentary on themes, structure, characters, language and style *Glossaries *Test questions and issues to consider *Essay writing advice *Cultural connections *Literary terms *Illustrations *Colour design ... Read more

Product Description
This novel completes Golding's trilogy, begun with "Rites of Passage" and continued with "Close Quarters". The author won the Booker Prize for "Rites of Passage" and was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1983. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

duplicate
I returned this book because it is included in "To the Ends of the Earth".

3rd part of trilogy and doesn't stand alone
Wonderful prose, beautifully observed character study, as WG slips into the skin of an extremely priggish and snobbish early twenties aristocrat as he comes of age and begins to understand a little more of the virtues ofthe ordinary people around him. Sea journeys of that era were long,tedious, largely uneventful and extremely uncomfortable. All 3 books in thetrilogy carry this perfectly: the maritime atmosphere is conveyed asperfectly as the arrogant character of the narrator. However, the tedium ofthe journey also comes across in the virtually non-existent plot whichmakes the books drag on somewhat. It is probably, though, as brilliantdescription of the English class system at the start of the 19th century asyou will read. I believe that the books in Trilogies should be able tostand alone, if they are to be sold separately, & on that basis, thistrilogy definitely fails. I'm glad I read it as a single 750 page tome. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Helpful, But Lacks Depth
After finding myself having to re-teach LORD OF THE FLIES again, I decided that instead of re-reading the entire novel for the sixth time, I would use SparkNotes to help guide me through my lessons.The last time I taught the novel, I used CliffsNotes and in this case I would have to say the CliffsNotes are the better of the two competing study aids.SPARKNOTES: LORD OF THE FLIES opens with an essay about the context of the novel that is followed by a character list, analysis of the major characters, and an explanation of some of the major themes, motifs, and symbols.A summary and analysis of each chapter follows.This is where CliffsNotes has the advantage, I found the analysis to be inadequate. Also, there are some instances where the summary makes assumptions about things in the novel that don't happen for sure.The summary and analysis of chapters is followed by several tools including answers to questions asked earlier, key facts, study questions, an essay about how to write an essay paper, a glossary of literary terms, and some review questions.Overall, I found SPARKNOTES: LORD OF THE FLIES to be useful in refreshing my memory, but it's not as good as the Cliffsnotes version of the novel. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of nine critical essays on the modern social science fiction novel, arranged in chronological order of their original publication. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Horrible Sound Quality!
I bought this and thought it would be a great convenience. I started listening and tried to turn up the volume so I could hear it, then I realized that not only was the narrator getting louder but the STATIC WAS GETTING LOUDER AND LOUDER! The sound quality was so bad that turning up the volume just made it worse. They must be recorded at 8 or 16 kbps, if you don't know--that's really bad.

$50 or more for this cheaply made, plastic mp3 player with the cheapest, flimsy headphones that they could get. Don't do it, don't buy these. You will regret it. Don't waste your money. Use your own mp3 discs and mp3 player. At least you'll be able to understand what's going on. ... Read more