{"id":30524,"date":"2024-09-12T08:00:18","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T08:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=30524"},"modified":"2024-09-11T13:40:44","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T13:40:44","slug":"lord-of-the-flies-the-graphic-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/09\/12\/lord-of-the-flies-the-graphic-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"Lord of the Flies – The Graphic Novel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy William Golding<\/strong>, adapted and illustrated by Aim\u00e9e de Jongh<\/strong> (Faber & Faber)
\nISBN: 978-0-571-37425-0 (HB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

In 1954, after many disappointments, one philosophy teacher, sailor (and Royal Navy D-Day veteran), actor and musician finally sold his first novel. Strangers from Within<\/strong> was a reaction to R. M. Ballantyne\u2019s Christian-centric children\u2019s classic The Coral Island<\/strong>, seen through the lens of a sensitive school teacher who had seen man at his very worst and was recuperating during the earliest era of a growing Cold War.<\/p>\n

The book was knocked back many times before one editor at Faber – Charles Monteith (who liked and published Samuel Beckett, John Osborne, Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney, P. D. James, Philip Larkin and Alan Bennett and so many, many more gifted individuals) – saw something there and decided to have a punt…<\/p>\n

As Lord of the Flies<\/strong>, the book hit the shelves and steadily grew to become one of the most revered, beloved and inspirational stories of all time and one that has literally reshaped social thought and opinion. In this 70th<\/sup> anniversary year, the book will be re-issued in an exclusive deluxe hardback edition, but its status as milestone and groundbreaker deserved more. Thus award-winning graphic novelist Aim\u00e9e de Jongh (The Return of the Honey Buzzard<\/strong>, Days of Sand<\/strong>) was commissioned to create this adaptation and visual synthesis to celebrate the initial publication. The result is truly remarkable…<\/p>\n

Golding went on to write more amazing books – such as The Inheritors<\/strong>, The Free Fall<\/strong>, Pincher Martin<\/strong>, The Double Tongue<\/strong>, and Booker Prize winner Rites of Passage<\/strong>, and was awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature, and it\u2019s very likely this pictorial treat will garner a few more glittering citations and prizes…<\/p>\n

You may not have read it, but sheer cultural osmosis means you already know Lord of the Flies<\/strong> to some degree.<\/p>\n

A plane carrying a large group of pre-adolescent British schoolboys crashes into the Pacific Ocean and a number of survivors make the arduous swim to a desolate but lush mountainous island. Shocked, stunned and starving, the ineffectual gaggle initially unite to find food and water and quickly evolve processes and systems to stay alive. A reflection of their schoolboy experiences soon divide the group into leaders and followers, as much by confusion and inertia as ambition or duty. The search for sustenance and means of rescue is constantly marred by a growing unease that their prison harbours monsters…<\/p>\n

All too soon oppressive regulation and the nascent rules of conduct and governance – like only speaking at gatherings when holding the \u201cConch shell\u201d – creates entrenched opposing viewpoints, factionalism and inevitably escalating violence…<\/p>\n

Adaptor de Jongh magnificently captures the dichotomy of a paradise that is also hell and the inexorable mounting pressure upon narrative beacons Ralph<\/em>, Piggy<\/em>, Simon<\/em> and Jack Merridew<\/em> as the drama unfolds…<\/p>\n

This superb creation is not a substitute for the three film adaptations, many stage and radio plays or the novel itself: it\u2019s just another sublime opportunity of accessing a milestone tale in an increasingly and regrettable post-literate era where direct visual information has largely augmented if not yet replaced the semantic and semiotic processing of prose. It is, however, just as compelling and evocative as Golding\u2019s world-shaking masterpiece and you really need to read both. I don\u2019t have the conch of speaking anymore, so it\u2019s up to you to choose which you do first…<\/p>\n

Lord of the Flies \u00a9 William Golding 1954. Adaptations and illustrations \u00a9 Aim\u00e9e de Jongh 2024. All rights reserved.
\nWin\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Simply Unmissable \u202610\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By William Golding, adapted and illustrated by Aim\u00e9e de Jongh (Faber & Faber) ISBN: 978-0-571-37425-0 (HB\/Digital edition) In 1954, after many disappointments, one philosophy teacher, sailor (and Royal Navy D-Day veteran), actor and musician finally sold his first novel. Strangers from Within was a reaction to R. M. Ballantyne\u2019s Christian-centric children\u2019s classic The Coral Island, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Lord of the Flies – The Graphic Novel”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80,191,239,66,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adaptations","category-adventure","category-drama","category-horror-stories","category-world-classics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7Wk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30524"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30528,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30524\/revisions\/30528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}