Anselm is largely critical of the developments concerning the spire, arguing that it is destruction of the church. Jocelin had been prepared to lose his friendship with Anselm as part of the cost of the spire, but we learn by the end of the novel that they appeared not to have had a friendship in the first place. Recent interest includes comparisons between The Spire and Brexit [18] and as an example of contemporary historical fiction. [19] Reception [ edit ]

Everywhere, fine dust gave these rods and trunks of light the importance of a dimension. He blinked at them again, seeing, near at hand, how individual grains of dust turned over each other, or bounced all together, like mayfly in a breath of wind. He saw how further away they drifted cloudily, coiled, or hung in a moment of pause, becoming, in the most distant rods and trunks, nothing but colour, honey-colour slashed across the body of the cathedral … He shook his head in rueful wonder at the solid sunlight.Don Crompton, in A View from the Spire: William Golding's Later Novels, analyses the novel and relates it to its pagan and mythical elements. More recently, Mark Kinkead-Weekes and Ian Gregor cover all of William Golding's novels in William Golding: A Critical Study of the Novels. Golding knew exactly what he was doing. Later, he describes Jocelin's fractured memories in terms of narrative: "they were like sentences from a story, which though they left great gaps, still told enough." Clearly self-referential. True, we are afforded glimpses, dispatches, from the outside world. Two young deacons are overheard by Jocelin, denigrating someone unspecified: "Say what you like; he's proud." Second deacon: "And ignorant." First deacon: "Do you know what? He thinks he is a saint! A man like that!" Derken bir gün bir rüya görüyor. Rüya da tarihi manastırımızın kulesi var çatısında. Hoopp bizimki sabah ilk iş Usta Robert Mason 'ı buluyor. Ve kule inşaatına başlıyorlar. Çok kısa bir zaman sonra usta buraya 120m uzunluğunda bir kule yapmanın imkansız olduğunu çok isterse küçük, göstermelik bir kule yapılabileceğini söylüyor. Ama bizim Jocelin takmış kafayı. Eee ne de olsa seçilmiş kişi. Sırtında melek taşıyor. E rüyasında da gördü. Olmaz diyor. "Yapılacak o kule" But, 'The Spire' is much less savory. It really has no appealing characters at all. Every character in the story is rather slimy and vile. There's just no one to really admire in this tale. It's a struggle to 'care deeply about' these figures. And Golding's unforgiving style doesn't help any. Kule; evet bir Sineklerin Tanrısı değil. Ancak şu takıntıdan kurtulalım artık. Bu başka bir roman. (Nasıl da kendi takıntımı sizlere mal ettim ama:)

Father Adam is dubbed by Jocelin as " Father Anonymous", indicating Jocelin's feelings of superiority. Until the end of the novel, when Father Adam becomes Jocelin's caretaker, he is largely a minor character who is surprised by how Jocelin was never taught to pray, doing his best to help him to heaven.However, the criticism of Jocelin is obliterated by Jocelin's subjectivity, his joy at having held in his hand the model of the spire that is to be built. "He looked down, loving them in his joy." And he refuses to accept explicitly that they are talking about him. He says: "Who is this poor fellow? You should pray for him rather …" He refuses to accept delivery of the insult he has overheard – and so we cannot be completely sure what he knows and what he doesn't know. The Spire confines us to Jocelin's consciousness – not absolutely, but for most of the novel's length. Dean Jocelin is the character through whom the novel is presented. Golding uses the stream of consciousness technique to show his Lear-like descent into madness. The novel charts the destruction of his self-confidence and ambition. As the construction of the spire draws to an end, Jocelin is removed from his position as Dean and his abandonment of his religious duties is denounced by the church Council. Ultimately, he succumbs to his illness which he had personified as his guardian angel. He opened his eyes and found that he was looking away from the tower and out into the world.... He could see over the bending workmen ... the valleys of the three rivers that met by the cathedral close opened themselves up.... You could see that all those places which had been separate to feet and only joined by an act of reason were indeed part of a whole. This might be the finest historical fiction that I have read to date - partly because it works through atmosphere rather than detail.

And in spite of all the troubles and hindrances the construction of the spire continues… But the process of building is taking its toll corrupting minds and souls… And immense fear grows around… Benedict Cumberbatch records audiobook of William Golding novel". The Guardian. 6 August 2014 . Retrieved 25 September 2020. Dean Jocelin brooks no argument in his determination to fulfill his mission. Despite warnings from the master builder Roger Mason, that the foundations are not strong enough to support the spire’s weight, he presses on relentlessly. He will not stop even when the supporting columns protest, “singing” as they bend under the strain. Nor when his fellow members of the Cathedral chapter complain that celebrants can no longer hear the services amid the banging and clattering way above their heads.Rachel Mason is Roger's wife. She reveals to Jocelin the reason why they cannot have children as attempts at sex result in fits of giggles. It’s a masterful piece of fiction even if at times it’s not always clear what is happening. Golding’s narrative uses a stream of consciousness technique, showing events through the eyes of Jocelin, a narrator who becomes increasingly unreliable as he feverishly pursues his vision. The function of the gargoyle is over-ridden. By Jocelin, primarily, though he is conscious of his hubris. A hubris he attributes to the sculptor. "Don't you think you might strain my humility, by making an angel of me?"

The Spire was envisioned by Golding as a historical novel with a moral struggle at its core, which was originally intended to have two settings: both the Middle Ages and modern day. [4] Whilst teaching at Bishop Wordsworth's School, Golding regularly looked out of his classroom window at Salisbury Cathedral and wondered how he would possibly construct its spire [5] But the book's composition and eventual realisation of The Spire was not an easy process for Golding. According to his daughter, Judy Carver, Golding 'struggled like anything to write The Spire' and said that the novel 'went through many drafts'; this was perhaps owing to the fact that he had stopped teaching which, in turn, gave him more time to write. [6] We can't be sure they are referring to Jocelin, except for the word "but" which begins this sentence: "But when the two deacons saw the dean looming over them, they fell to their knees." As he gazed out of his classroom window towards Salisbury Cathedral , the author William Golding considered the technical challenges of constructing its 404 foot spire. The result was his 1964 novel The Spire, an intense narrative about a man who believes he has a God given mission to build a magnificent spire on top of a cathedral, bringing glory to the town and its people closer to God.Bu kez bir manastırdayız. Bir baş rahibimiz var. Adı Jocelin. Şahsi yorumumu şimdiden söyleyeyim. Bence bu adam delinin teki. Yaşlandıkça ve Hıristyanlık aleminde yükseldikçe kafayı yemiş. Bir meleği var. (Kim bilir hangi psikolojik rahatsızlıktan muzdarip. Yazık la kimin çocuğuysa...) Meleği sürekli sırtında. Ondan hiç ayrılmıyor. Konuşmuyor da. Sadece peşinde dolanıyor, sırtında ağırlık yapıyor hepsi bu. Dolayısıyla bizim başrahip "ben seçilmiş kişiyim" diye dolanıyor ortalıkta.