Watch – Behind the Scenes of
Lord of the Flies: The Graphic Novel
By Faber Editor, 11 September 2024
Watch: Aimée de Jongh on Lord of the Flies
In the studio with Aimée de Jongh, the acclaimed artist who has adapted William Golding's classic novel Lord of the Flies into a graphic novel for the first time.
Publishing Director Angus Cargill on the new graphic novel of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies
Perhaps the first thing that strikes you when looking at Aimée de Jongh’s bold and gorgeous adaptation of Lord of the Flies is the colour. The rich palette which she has brought to it, and the contrast of the bright exteriors and dark interiors, brings the island so vividly to life. But before the colour came in, Aimée had sketched everything in black and white and even then her style and skill was so clear.
Her vision of the island was always compelling, but her figures were incredible to me, even in sketch and as these developed to finished art the changing depiction of the boys through the course of the novel, often a reflection of how they see themselves — from the dominant, aggressive ‘Hunters’ to the ‘little ’uns’ whose fears are more evident throughout — and the switch at the end, as we suddenly see they are all still, of course, just young boys, is a sublime moment.
These and many other visual elements do so much of the storytelling, and Aimée’s working methods and deep love of the original novel meant that working with her on the actual text adapt was much smoother than I had anticipated — no easy feat when the word count was coming down to around 9000 words, ten percent of that of the original novel. Keeping its original twelve chapter structure helped, of course, with the pacing and beats of the text adapt.
We had many discussions about the novel’s episodic structure and William Golding’s brilliant chapter titles, the latter of which is maybe a rarity in fiction these days, but you certainly see in multi-episode TV series, like Lost, The Wire and Stranger Things. Similarly, Aimée’s bravura silent intro works almost like one of those great series’ opening credit sequences, as it invites you into the book.
Finally, for me, it is Aimée’s subtlety and attention to detail throughout that marks this out as a truly great adaptation, a visual treat that somehow both simplifies and enriches the story. Like Peter Brook’s classic 1963 film, we hope it will both honour and deepen the reach and influence of this seventy-year-old masterpiece.
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The world’s first graphic novel of Lord of the Flies — a masterpiece reimagined.
Aimée de Jongh is a renowned graphic novelist. Her debut The Return of the Honey Buzzard won the Prix Saint-Michel and was adapted to a live-action film whilst her graphic novel Days of Sand was an international bestseller, and nominated for two Eisner awards. She has been published in eleven languages to date.
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