I do like people to read the books twice, because I write my novels about ideas which concern me deeply and I think are important, and therefore I want people to take them seriously. And to read it twice of course is taking it seriously.
Interpretation
Golding emphasizes the importance of deeply engaging with literature by reading books multiple times.
In this quote, William Golding expresses his desire for readers to fully engage with his novels, which are rooted in ideas he finds significant. By encouraging multiple readings, he highlights that true understanding and appreciation of literary works come from a serious and reflective approach to the material, allowing readers to grasp the deeper meanings and themes inherent in his writing.
In practice
During a book club discussion about Golding's work, a member might suggest, 'As Golding advises, we should consider reading this book twice to uncover deeper meanings.'
Consider a man riding a bicycle. Whoever he is, we can say three things about him. We know he got on the bicycle and started to move. We know that at some point he will stop and get off. Most important of all, we know that if at any point between the beginning and the end of his journey he stops moving and does not get off the bicycle he will fall off it. That is a metaphor for the journey through life of any living thing, and I think of any society of living things.
The skull regarded Ralph like one who knows all the answers and won't tell.
Maybe, he said hesitantly, maybe there is a beast. The assembly cried out savagely and Ralph stood up in amazement. You, Simon? You believe in this? I don't know, said Simon. His heartbeats were choking him. [...] Ralph shouted. Hear him! He's got the conch! What I mean is . . . maybe it's only us. Nuts! That was from Piggy, shocked out of decorum.
The mask was a thing on it's own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-conciousness.
Man produces evil as a bee produces honey.
Utopias are presented for our inspection as a critique of the human state.
'No Sweetness Here' is the kind of old-fashioned social realism I have always been drawn to in fiction, and it does what I think all good literature should: It entertains you.
All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they really happened and after you are finished reading one you feel that it all happened to you and after which it all belongs to you.
In the century-long history of Chinese science fiction, apocalyptic themes were mostly absent. This was especially true in the period before the 1990s, when Chinese science fiction, isolated from the influence of the West, developed on its own.
The power of literature does not lie in resonance with the particular but the way that the particular speaks to a broader, more universal truth.
She liked books more than anything else, and was, in fact, always inventing stories of beautiful things and telling them to herself.
Reading a good long novel is in many ways like having a long and satisfying affair
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