Alan Sillitoe
Alan Sillitoe (born
4 March,
1928) is an English writer, one of the "
Angry Young Men" of the
1950s.
Sillitoe was born in
Nottingham, to
working class parents. His father worked, like the hero of his first novel, in the
Raleigh factory, and was abusive towards his children.
Joining the
Royal Air Force in
1946, Sillitoe was then posted to Malaya where he contracted
Tuberculosis. Whilst hospitalised for treatment, he developed a taste for reading and writing, which he was to pursue on discharge in
1949.
Whilst living in Spain with his lover, American poet
Ruth Fainlight, in
1955, Sillitoe commenced work on
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, which was published in
1958. Influenced in part by the stripped down prose of
Hemingway, the book attempts to convey the attitudes and situation of a young factory worker (Arthur Seaton) faced with the inevitable end of his youthful philandering. It was adapted as a film by
Karel Reisz in
1960, with
Albert Finney as Arthur Seaton.
His story
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, which concerns the rebellion of a
borstal boy with a talent for running, won the
Hawthornden Prize in 1959. It was also adapted into a film, this time directed by
Tony Richardson, and starring
Tom Courtenay (
1962).
In
1990, he was awarded an honorary degree from
Nottingham Trent University.
Sillitoe has written many more novels, and several volumes of poetry, listed below. His
1995 autobiography
Life Without Armour was critically acclaimed on publication, and offers a view into his squalid childhood.
*
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning *
The General (1960)
*
Key to the Door (1961)
*
The Death of William Posters (1965)
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A Tree on Fire (1967)
*
A Start in Life (1970)
*
Travels in Nihilon *
Raw Material (1972)
*
The Flame of Life (1974)
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The Widower's Son (1976)
*
The Storyteller (1979)
*
Her Victory (1982)
*
The Lost Flying Boat (1983)
*
Down from the Hill (1984)
*
Life Goes On (1985)
*
Out of the Whirlpool (1987)
*
The Open Door (1989)
*
Last Loves (1990)
*
Leonard's War (1991)
*
Snowstop (1993)
*
The Broken Chariot (1998)
*
The German Numbers Woman (2000)
*
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1959)
*
The Ragman's Daughter (1963)
*
Guzman, Go Home (1968)
*
Men, Women and Children (1973)
*
The Second Chance (story) (1981)
*
The Far Side of the Street (1988)
*
Alligator Playground (1997)
*
The Rats and Other Poems (1960)
*
A Falling Out of Love (1964)
*
Love in the Environs of Voronezh (1968)
*
Storm and Other Poems (1974)
*
Snow on the North Side of Lucifer (1979)
*
Sun before Departure (1984)
*
Tides and Stone Walls (1986)
