Q 01/05

Who wrote Lord of the Flies?

A) George Orwell

B) William Golding

C) Graham Greene

D) Anthony Burgess

Answer · why

B) William Golding

It was his debut novel, written while he was still a schoolteacher in Salisbury.

Q 02/05

In which year was Lord of the Flies first published?

A) 1967

B) 1958

C) 1961

D) 1954

Answer · why

D) 1954

Its first print run of 3,000 copies sold slowly; by 2015 it had sold more than ten million.

Q 03/05

After many rejections, which publisher finally accepted the manuscript?

A) Penguin

B) Jonathan Cape

C) Faber & Faber

D) Chatto & Windus

Answer · why

C) Faber & Faber

Editor Charles Monteith then cut the entire opening section describing an evacuation from nuclear war.

Q 04/05

What was the working title of the manuscript before it became Lord of the Flies?

A) The Beast on the Mountain

B) The Island of Boys

C) Strangers from Within

D) Sound of the Shell

Answer · why

C) Strangers from Within

That draft explicitly placed the island near New Guinea and Borneo; the published book never names its location.

Q 05/05

The novel's title is a literal translation of the name of which biblical demon?

A) Mammon

B) Beelzebub

C) Asmodeus

D) Belial

Answer · why

B) Beelzebub

The name derives from a Philistine god worshipped at Ekron, mentioned in 2 Kings.