Lord of the Flies

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the U.S. publication of William Golding’s dystopian classic of boyhood and the savagery of humanity, now a Penguin Classics Black Spine


Lord of the Flies remains as provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, igniting passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. William Golding’s compelling story about a group of very ordinary small 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 20th century for readers of any age.

The Lord of the Flies black-spine edition celebrates the 40th anniversary of its publication in the U.S. with a special collection of supplementary materials — including a foreword by Lois Lowry, a new introduction by scholar Rachel Greenwald Smith, and suggestions for further exploration by scholar Jennifer Buehler — that further contextualize Golding’s novel as an integral work in the last century of literature.

Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing 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.