The Spire by William Golding is a novel that delves into the obsession of the protagonist, Dean Jocelin, to build a spire on an already existing cathedral despite lacking foundations. The story unfolds through the protagonist's point of view as he descends into madness, forcing the builders to continue the impossible task, leading to curses, deaths, and torments. Golding's writing style is described as a stream of consciousness, reflecting the thoughts of the insane bishop building the spire. The book explores themes of faith, delusion, fertility, and paganism through extensive symbolism.
Genres:
Tropes/Plot Devices:
Topics:
Notes:
Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings for The Spire include themes of madness, obsession, violence, and emotional distress, reflecting the darker aspects of the human condition.
From The Publisher:
'...the folly isn't mine. It's God's Folly. Even in the old days He never asked men to do what was reasonable. Men can do that for themselves. They can buy and sell, heal and govern. But then out of some deep place comes the command to do what makes no sense at all - to build a ship on dry land; to sit among the dunghills; to marry a whore; to set their son on the altar of sacrifice. Then, if men have faith, a new thing comes.'
Dean Jocelin has a vision: that God has chosen him to erect a great spire on his cathedral. His mason anxiously advises against it, for the old cathedral was built without foundations. Nevertheless, the spire rises octagon upon octagon, pinnacle by pinnacle, until the stone pillars shriek and the ground beneath it swims. Its shadow falls ever darker on the world below, and on Dean Jocelin in particular.
Ratings (1)
Liked It (1) |
Reader Stats (3):
Read It (1) | |
Want To Read (1) | |
Not Interested (1) |
What can you read after
The Spire?
About the Author:
William Golding was born in Cornwall in 1911 and was educated at Marlborough Grammar School and at Brasenose College, Oxford. Before he became a schoolmaster he was an actor, a lecturer, a small-boat sailor and a musician. A now rare volume, Poems, appeared in 1934. In 1940 he joined the Royal Navy and saw action against battleships, and also took part in the pursuit of the Bismarck. He finished the war as a Lieutenant in command of a rocket ship, which was off the French coast for the D-Day invasion, and later at the island of Walcheren.After the war he returned to Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury and was there when his first novel, Lord of the Flies, was published in 1954. He gave up teaching in 1961. Lord of the Flies was filmed by Peter Brook in 1963. Golding listed his hobbies as music, chess, sailing, archaeology and classical Greek (which he taught himself). Many of these subjects appear in his essay collections The Hot Gates and A Moving Target.He won the Booker Prize for his novel Rites of Passage in 1980, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983. He was knighted in 1988. He died at his home in the summer of 1993. The Double Tongue, a novel left in draft at his death, was published in June 1995.In 2008, The Times ranked Golding third on their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
When you click the Amazon link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commision, at no cost to you.
