As I was exploring for new fun finds for my readers, I decided to take a closer look at the Barnes and Nobel Review's Daybook section. I thought at first glance that it was a section that just gave a daily recommendation to keep things fresh. When I looked first at today's book I just saw The Lord of the Flies, a book most have heard of or even read at some point in high school, so I clicked on the section to see what else I could find and realized the list was not what it appeared. When I clicked on a previous day's post about Anne Bradstreet, the first line in the post stated this was the day in history when she died. I realized then that this was a "this day in history" list, but the literary version. I then reread the post on The Lord of the Flies. What the post revealed was on September 17, 1954 William Golding's first novel, The Lord of the Flies was published for the first time. The novel which is known for its famously Hobbesian view of human nature, was apparently rejected from 21 publishers before it went on to become a classic requirement for all high school readers. William Golding never understood why, however, the rest of this novels were viewed as holding this depressing view as well.
Ever curious what happened on this day in literature? Check out the Barnes and Nobel Review Daybook list for new updates. The Daybook list is written by Steve King, who teaches in the English Department at Memorial University in St. John's in Newfoundland. For more of his work can be found at todayinliterature.com
Today's post inspire you to reread or pick up The Lord of the Flies for the first time. You can find it at Amazon by just clicking below!
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