Faber Members get 10% off their first order

The Paper Men (Introduced by DBC Pierre)

William Golding

Join an eccentric novelist on the run from his obsessive would-be biographer in this comic farce by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies.

Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780571371716
Date Published
15.12.2022
Delivery
All orders are sent via Royal Mail and are tracked: choose from standard or premium delivery.
Summary

‘A complex literary comedy from an extraordinarily powerful writer.’ Malcolm Bradbury
‘The great unbreakable wild horse of the 1960s British literary stable.’ Rose Tremain
‘Rich as a compost heap.’ Melvyn Bragg


Join an eccentric novelist on the run from his obsessive would-be biographer in this comic farce 
by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies.

Why should I conceal the fact that I had found a full professor of Eng. Lit. rifling my dustbin?

Fame, fortune, alcoholism, a failing marriage: for novelist Wilfred Barclay, his final unbearable irritation is his would-be-biographer, the young academic Professor Rick L. Tucker, who is determined to become The Barclay Man.

Locked in a lethal relationship, the two men stumble across Europe, shedding wives, self-respect and identities in a game of literary cat and mouse – and the climax of their odyssey, when it comes, is as inevitable as it is unexpected . . .

Browse William Golding novels reissued with new designs.

Critic Reviews

Golding didn’t see why any confines should be placed on a writer’s power of invention and he took this power to some extraordinary places. He is the great unbreakable wild horse of the 1960s British literary stable.

Rose Tremain
Critic Reviews

Golding's splendid comic gift is used to often hilarious effect, running the whole gamut of comedy, from irony to farce . . . Hugely enjoyable.

Daily Telegraph
Critic Reviews

Rich as a compost heap . . . It moves you and at times it can shake you.

Melvyn Bragg
Critic Reviews

A complex literary comedy from an extraordinarily powerful writer, which holds us right through to the end.

Malcolm Bradbury
WilliamGolding

William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential writers of modern times. Lord of the Flies, his first novel, has been read by millions, translated into more than forty-five languages, and adapted for screen and stage drama. He drew on his own experience as a teacher and his service in the…

Read More
WilliamGolding
William Golding
More books by William Golding