Alan Sillitoe (1928-)

Alan Sillitoe (1928-)
English novelist, children's book writer, playwright and social critic, compared to D.H.Lawrence, who also came from Nottingham. Sillitoe introduced in the post-World War II British fiction realistically portrayed working-class heroes, and was labelled as one of the Angry Young men. His range as a writer has since widened. Sillitoe has written more than fifty books over the last forty years, including novels, plays, and collections of short stories, poems, and travel pieces, as well as more than four hundred essays. "Stars, seen through midnight windows
Of earth-grained eyes
Are fullstops ending invisible sentences,
Aphorisms, quips, mottoes of the gods
Indicate what might have been made clear
Had words stayed plain before them. (from 'Stars' in A Falling Out of Love, 1964)
Alan Sillitoe was born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, as the son of an illiterate tannery laborer. His father became one of the long-term unemployed during the 1930s Depression. Sillitoe's childhood was shadowed by the financial problems of the family, but he also found early the joys of literature and started to plan his career as a writer. At the age of 14 Sillitoe left school and worked in a number of jobs in Nottingham factories, among others in a bicycle factory from 1942 to 1946. He served in the Royal Air Force, where he was a wireless operator. He was sent to Malaya, and on his return he was discovered to have tuberculosis. Sillitoe spent a sixteen months in a RAF hospital, and during this period he started to write and read intensively. Pensioned off at 21 on 45 shillings at week, he lived in France and Spain for seven years in an attempt to recover.
In 1951 he met an American poet, Ruth Fainlight, who was married, but they decided to live abroad together. From 1952 to 1958 they lived in France, Italy and Spain - largely on Sillitoe's air force pension. Encouraged by Robert Graves, he began to write his first novel THE SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING (1958), exceptionally frank and vigorous story about working-class life in Nottingham. It depicts the weekend of a young laborer, Arthur Seaton, who reluctantly begins to take responsibility of his life. At first glance, he do not seem to be an attractive character, but gradually one almost gets to like him for his vitality and generosity.

Arthur lives for the good times to be had at the weekends, he is a rock'n'roller before rock made its breakthrough in England, and declares at the outset that 'all the rest is propaganda'. As an anti-social hero, he had much similarities with the characters found in the works of John Braine and Stan Barstow. The story gained a huge critical success and was also adapted into screen in 1960.
Among Sillitoe's other acclaimed works from the 1950s is THE LONELINESS OF LONG-DISTANCE RUNNER (1959), a collection of stories for which the author won the Hawthornden Prize. The title story is narrated by a boy in Borstal, set to run in a race. He finds a kind of freedom in the isolated activity of running. The institute's governor has high hopes, that his protegé will be a winner, but the rebellious runner finds an opportunity to show his defiance of authority. "If I lost all I have in the world I wouldn't worry much. If I was to go across the road for a packet of fags one morning and come back to see the house clapping its hands in flames with everything I owned burning inside I'd turn my back without any thought or regret and walk away, even if my jacket and last ten-bob note were in the flames as well." (from The Ragman's Daughter, 1963)
The various protagonists of Sillitoe's early fiction are generally young men, amoral survivals in a kind of persistent rage in the slum world. THE RAGMAN'S DAUGHTER (1963) was a collection of short stories which was praised for its vitality. "Every story (and there is not one dud) has the exhilaration of revolutionary writing" stated Julian Jebb in Sunday Times. In his later works Sillitoe has moved beyond lower-class environment and toward analysis of psychological states of his characters. In the autobiographical RAW MATERIAL (1972) he shows the genesis of rage in the lives of his grandparents, A START IN LIFE (1971) leaves the protagonist peacefully cultivating his garden, bemused by a prophecy that he will go wild again at thirty-five. In 1959 Sillitoe married Ruth Fainlight, and had a son and adopted a daughter. THE RATS AND OTHER POEMS (1960 was Sillitoe's first published book of verse, an early example of his uncompromising, yet tender poetry. In 1963 he spent a month in the Soviet Union and gave his impressions in ROAD TO VOLGOGRAD (1964). Sillitoe have lived with his family mostly in London, but also spent time in Tangier, Spain and Israel. During the last years they have divided their time between London and France.

Although best known for his novels, Sillitoe has published children's books (starring the character 'Marmelade Jim'), poetry, and plays, such as THE KEY TO THE DOOR (1962), which was based on his experiences as a wireless operator in Malaysia. For further reading: Alan Sillitoe by A.R. Penner (1972); Commitment As Art by Ronald Dee Vaverka (1978 - Dissertation--Uppsala Univ); Alan Sillitoe: A Critical Assessment by S.S. Atherton (1979); Alan Sillitoe by David Gerard (1988); Working-Class Fiction in Theory and Action: A Reading of Alan Sillitoe by P. Hitchcock (1989); Understanding Alan Sillitoe, ed. by Matthew Joseph Bruccoli (1999) - See Kingley Amis, also labelled as "angry young man".

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Selected works:
· WITHOUT BEER OR BREAD, 1957
· THE LONELINESS OF LONG-DISTANCE RUNNER, 1958 - (film 1962, directed by Tony Richardson)
· SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING, 1958 - (film 1960, directed by Karel Reisz) - Lauantai-illasta sunnuntai aamuun
· THE RATS, AND OTHER POEMS, 1960
· THE GENERAL, 1960
· KEY TO THE DOOR, 1961
· THE RAGMAN'S DAUGHTER, 1963 - (film 1963)
· A FALLING OUT OF LOVE, AND OTHER POEMS, 1964
· ROAD TO VOLGOGRAD, 1965
· THE DEATH OF WILLIAN POSTER, 1965
· A TREE ON FIRE, 1967
· THE CITY ADVENTURES OF MARMALADE JIM, 1967
· LOVE IN THE ENVIROS OF VORONEZH, 1968
· GUZMAN, GO HOME, 1968
· SHAMAN AND OTHER POEMS, 1968
· ALAN SILLITOE SELECTION, 1968
· Lope de Vega: All Citizens are Soldiers, 1969 (translation)
· A START IN LIFE, 1970
· THIS FOREIGN FIELD, 1970
· TRAVELS IN NIHILON, 1971
· POEMS, 1971
· THE RAGMAN'S DAUGHTER, 1972 (play from his story)
· RAW MATERIAL, 1972
· SHAMAN AND OTHER POEMS, 1973
· MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN, 1973
· BARBARIANS, 1974
· STORM, 1974
· THE FLAME OF LIFE, 1974
· RAW MATERIAL, 1974
· MOUNTAINS AND CAVERNS, 1975 (essays, among others of D.H.Lawrence)
· THE SAXON SHORE WAY, 1975 (with F.Godwin)
· THE WIDOWER'S SON, 1976
· PIT STRIKE, 1977
· BIG JOHN AND THE STARS, 1977
· 3 PLAYS, 1978
· THE INCREDIBLE FENCING FLEAS, 1978
· THE STORYTELLER, 1979
· SNOW ON THE NORTH SIDE OF LUCIFER, 1979
· MARMALADE JIM AT THE FARM, 1980
· THE SECOND CHANCE AND OTHER STORIES, 1981
· HER VICTORY, 1982
· SUN BEFORE DEPARTURE, 1982
· THE LOST FLYING BOAT, 1983
· DOWN FROM THE HILL, 1984
· MARMALADE JIM AND THE FOX, 1984
· LIFE GOES ON, 1985
· TIDES AND STONE WALLS, 1986
· EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK, 1987
· THREE POEMS, 1988
· OUT OF THE WHIRLPOOL, 198
· THE OPEN DOOR, 1989
· LOST LOVES, 1990
· LEONARD'S WAR, 1991
· COLLECTED POEMS, 1993
· SNOWSTOP, 1993
· COLLECTED STORIES, 1995
· LEADING THE BLIND, 1995
· LIFE WITHOUT ARMOUR, 1995
· ALLIGATOR PLAYGROUND, 1997
· THE BROKEN CHARIOT, 1998
· LEADING THE BLIND: A CENTURY OF GUIDE BOOK TRAVEL 1815-1914, 1999.

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