Biographer John Carey discovered the memoir among Golding's papers while doing research for his book, The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies, available September 3. In it, Golding says he met the girl when she was 13, and that she was "beginning to burn sexually" at that time. By 14, he wrote, she was "already sexy as an ape." When he saw her again, on a visit home from Oxford, he said he "felt sure she wanted heavy sex, as this was visibly written on her pert, ripe and desirable mouth." This she-wanted-it language is obviously upsetting, as is the admission that he "unhandily tried to rape her." She managed to get away, leaving him calling "I'm not going to hurt you," and thinking he "had made such a bad hand at rape."

Sadly, none of this — from the assumption that physical attractiveness as a sign of sexual desire to the disingenuous claim that "I'm not going to hurt you" — is unusual. What is unusual is the source of the admission — an author who had written elsewhere about the darkness of the human spirit. Golding apparently wrote his memoir, which he called Men and Women Now, to explain his "monstrous" side to his wife Ann. It seems, however that he also wanted to excuse his actions, with claims that the girl was "depraved by nature." Confessing the attempted rape to his wife years after the fact, when it's likely that no restitution could be made, seems more like a selfish unburdening than a generous act of honesty. And Golding's repeated claims about the girl's sexuality suggests he wasn't ready, even at that late date, for true contrition.

Golding's papers also reveal that he pitted boys against each other when he was a schoolteacher, and that as he gave them more autonomy, his "eyes came out like organ stops" to witness their actions. These creepy war games, in which he "divided pupils into gangs, with one attacking a prehistoric camp and the other defending it," may have been an inspiration for the ultimately murderous conflict between boys in Lord of the Flies. Of that novel, Golding said in a publicity questionnaire,

The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable. The whole book is symbolic in nature except the rescue in the end where adult life appears, dignified and capable, but in reality enmeshed in the same evil as the symbolic life of the children on the island.

The author's words on evil and "the defects of human nature," along with his admission of his "monstrous" side, may be telling. If Golding believed that humans were evil at base, that given freedom they would turn against each other, then he might have thought his attempted rape was in some way mitigated. And his depiction of boys corrupted by a mysterious devil that at first appears external but more and more seems to operate within them may be a claim for the lack of free will in the face of the corrupting influence of human nature itself. Whatever the case, we know now that someone who wrote memorably about evil had first-hand experience with it, and saw it within himself, as much as he sought to excuse it.

Author Golding Admitted To Attempted Rape [UPI]
Author William Golding Tried To Rape Teenager, Private Papers Show [Guardian]
William Golding, Author Of Lord of the Flies 'Tried To Rape A 15-Year-Old Girl' [Telegraph]

The Genuine Crime and Punishment Experience: Learn to swing an axe in a 6 X 6' room! Spend one week doing penal servitude in Siberia! Price includes one wooden cross, unlimited time for mental anguish, soul-searching, and the ultimate rejection of nihilism.
"I'd recommend the Crime and Punishment Experience to anyone searching for an escape from the materialism of the prevailing zeitgeist!" - Peggy Nolan, Akron, OH

Outward Bound: Lord of the Flies: Your child will be dropped on a deserted island with no wilderness or survival training. Included in price: one-way airfare, conch shell. Learn first-hand the evil of man and the significance of civilization on our baser natures! Contemplate the influence of the Cold War on cultural nihilism!
"Lord of the Flies really helped Ryan grow up. He hasn't been the same since! He'll thank us one day." - Bill Pretz, Williamsburg, VA

Death in Venice Walking Tour: Experience the beauty of Venice through the eyes of an author consumed with his own mortality and desire for a pre-pubescent Polish aristocrat! Like Gustav, you'll get the "middle-aged Italian roue makeover" complete with rouge and pomade, flee from the cholera, and stalk children across a picturesque Venetian resort. An escape from reality you won't forget!
"This really gives you time to enjoy your own company. I know myself a lot better now." - Mike Collins, Irvington, NY.

Grow Your Own Flowers in the Attic!: A perfect experience for you and three friends! Your journey begins in idyllic Gladstone, Pennsylvania, then continues by train to beautiful Charlottesville, Virginia, where you'll study arts and crafts, home decor and landscaping in cozy accomodations!
"You have to experience it to understand." - Molly Katz, 13

On The Trail Of Laura Ingalls Wilder [Star Tribune]

Maybe Spencer and I should have hit up the camps chronicled in the just-released Camp Camp, a book described as a "love letter to summer camp and history of our generation, a chance to relive every Champion sweatshirt-wearing, accidental bed-wetting, sky-hook-wedgie-receiving, tie-dye-making golden moment"; after all, it must be nice for those people who created lifelong bonds while treading water in some remote, silty lake. But back to my camp experience! The other day, it emerged that a friend of a friend is close with the dreaded Hannah and the acquaintance asked me what my last name was, so she could report back to my former nemesis. I refused to tell her, because some small part of still believes that if Hannah remembers me, she will hunt me down and egg my apartment after convincing all my friends that I smell of feet. Not that I'm still traumatized by camp or anything!

Notes On Camp [Observer]
Camp Camp [Official Website]

Camp Camp [Amazon]

With that out of the way, Faludi focuses in on whypeople hate Hillary so much, pointing to a culture in which only younger women are prized and writing that once women's "30-years-old freshness date has expired... [they] are out of luck — there's no matriarchy to step in to offer wisdom and hand over the reins." She also argues that Clinton, because of her age and her potency, gets associated with "mother" in a primal way, and that the country's penis-obsessed Portnoys subconsciously regard her as "the smothering, devouring American Mom whose power male writers have been shuddering under since at least the 1950's."

For all the hosannas over young women advancing in competitive sports or Katie Couric snagging the CBS News anchor slot, we continue to have no tradition and no real image of public female authority. As [Vanity Fair writer Leslie] Bennetts observes in her essay, 'A woman can become Speaker of the House, but Nancy Pelosi has to cloak her authority in gender mufti by describing her ability to order congressmen around as using her 'mother-of-five voice.' A female can't just be strong and forceful and direct in her decision making; she has to revert to being a mom, which we all know is her primary role anyway.'

Hillary and the Feminine Gaze, Up Close and Personal [NY Observer]

Earlier: 30 Women Hate On Hillary In 30 Different Ways

Washington Post:

If nothing else, "Kid Nation" will teach them the value of money. Or at least that pursuing it is the noblest activity available to humankind... Once they were divided into teams, the kids became instantly territorial (or so it was made to appear), prompting one boy to shout, "Screw the blue team!" One wonders if the mighty arm of the Federal Communications Commission will swoop down and slap that kid with a hefty fine for using bad language. Those children may not have a nanny, but the United States does.

What the hell do they do with all these badass kids? The answer is the only thing logic, common sense, and the producers could dictate: gangs. After assigning colors, bandannas, and graffiti taggers, and before you could say 'Boyz n the Hood', they were off on their first 'Survivor'-tyke mission... How troubling was it to see a 14-year-old learnin' the wee ones on ''the three dance moves that will get you through life''? How soon till she escalates from nickels to dollars, and graduates from the street to the pole? Don't look at me like that. I'm not the one who taught that child to dance for money.

Small, cute creatures were definitely in danger on the Wednesday premiere of "Kid Nation." No, it wasn't the 40 kids on the CBS reality show. Some children on the program decided to go jackrabbit hunting, but when they threw rocks, their aim wasn't great. Be assured that, in the first episode anyway, no fluffy bunnies were hurt during the making of "Kid Nation"... There was one brief shoving match on the program, in which a 15 year old "got in the face" of an 11 year old, but most of the program was pretty sedate, if not a bit bland.

Watching the CBS reality show, which premiered after months of anti-hype, was as much fun as baby-sitting overtired tots who've had one too many Sweet Tarts... "Kid Nation" will in no way truly represent what children would do left to their own devices in a deserted town. There are cameramen and medical professionals on hand, of course, and also host Jonathan Karsh... And how can we enjoy rooting for someone's downfall, or making fun of someone's shortcomings, when they're just a kid? The show puts viewers in a bad position.

CBS' controversial 'Kid Nation' finally debuted Wednesday night, and the show's first episode was alternatingly uncomfortable, inspiring, and awkward. Its cast of teenagers and pre-teens were sometimes mean, frustrating, or annoying, but they also proved themselves to be remarkably self-sufficient, smart, articulate, and funny. In short, they were real, and rather entertaining... 'Kid Nation' has proven that once in the situation, the kids can function, and maybe teach the rest of us something along the way.

Last night's premiere of 'Kid Nation' was a thundering bore... The first show was manipulative and rang false. Nobody could possibly believe a word of it....The youngsters uttered lines that seemed supplied by the network, but that happens on all these shows. They cried for their parents or just wandered around. What a downer this one quickly turned out to be.

Would the creators of 'Kid Nation' please go to their room for a time-out and come up with something more original?... Part of the fun of any reality show is having a laugh at the adults who participate. But even though 'Kid Nation' presents its players as smart, spunky and resourceful, it's not very amusing to see them get teary over missing their moms or to watch them being edited into the familiar stereotypes — the bully, the earnest leader, the class clown — that populate reality TV.

Like any good reality show, Kid Nation's strengths are in its characters, and the most remarkable aspect of these characters so far is their intellectual superiority to adults on reality shows — they use big words and make funny jokes! And if we can swallow our unease with the values these stage-parent offspring "from all walks of life" are learning (hint: they're all striving to be labeled "upper class") and the fact that the show bears more than a passing resemblance to long-running Saturday-morning staple Discovery Kids: Endurance, it should be a fun ride, like summer camp (albeit one located in a deserted mining town with no adults in sight).

Separate from any controversy about child-labor laws or Draconian legal waivers, parts of the show are a bit creepy. In the debut, the kids are told that they can decide to "give up" and leave at the town halls (tribal councils?), a phrase loaded with "You don't want to be a quitter, do you?" peer pressure. And while there's nothing new about the kid who misses his parents and cries a lot at summer camp, there is something intrusive about having a camera shoved into that kid's face.

Indeed, I cannot even profess to be shocked - shocked! — to find TV executives acting like TV executives, thinking up new ways to make the most money from the least investment and covering their hindquarters with a contract written like a gazillionaire's pre-nup, designed to protect them utterly in case of disaster, disease or discontent. What does remain strange to me - I won't even call it alarming - is what people will sign in order to be on television, the flagpole-sit of our day. Even stranger, that they will sign it in the name of their children....The appeal of the series is rooted in the fact that adults habitually underestimate the sophistication of children, while children don't recognize the degree to which their sophistication is tempered by inexperience. Whatever else it is, or may be, it is adorable; to the extent that it's disturbing onscreen...