William Golding; ‘Lord of the Flies’ Author

LONDON —  Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding, whose classic novel “Lord of the Flies” won acclaim for its chilling story of marooned schoolboys’ descent into barbarism, died Saturday. He was 81.

Matthew Evans, chairman of Golding’s publisher, Faber & Faber, said the probable cause of death was a heart attack.

“It happened very suddenly,” said Golding’s son-in-law, Terrell Carver.

The writer died at his home in Perranarworthal, near Falmouth in southern England.

Golding won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1983 and was knighted five years ago.

For a man who once said his biggest affliction was “the inability to write poetry,” Golding made a major contribution to English literature. His novels have been reprinted many times and are required reading at many colleges and schools.

Golding suffered a string of rejections before “Lord of the Flies,” his first work, was published in 1954. The tale is about a group of boys who survive the crash-landing of an airplane and try to survive on an uninhabited island, where they split into tribes and begin fighting one another. The book was made into at least two movies.

“Lord of the Flies” was followed by six other novels, including “The Inheritors” (1955) and “Free Fall” (1959). “Rights of Passage,” published in 1980, won the Booker Prize, one of Britain’s most prestigious literary prizes.

Born in Cornwall, in southern England, Sept. 19, 1911, Golding studied science and then English at Oxford University.

After graduation, he joined the Royal Navy, serving on cruisers and destroyers and developing an enduring love of the sea.

In a rare interview, Golding once talked about death: “I’d rather there wasn’t an afterlife, really. I’d much rather not be me for thousands of years. Me? Hah!”

He is survived by his wife, Ann, a son and daughter.

Funeral arrangements were not announced.