“the long-distance run of an early morning makes me think that every run like this is a life- a little life, I know- but a life as full of misery and happiness and things happening as you can ever get really around yourself”, “I'm a human being and I've got thoughts and secrets and bloody life inside me that he doesn't know is there, and he'll never know what's there because he's stupid. In fact, he completely rejects the Marxist tradition by emphasizing his individuality--even though the characters in this book are all strongly, proudly, and defiantly English working class, they reject a too-strong group identity, and even perhaps have a certain spirit. Perhaps one of the most revered works of fiction in the twentieth-century, iThe Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner /iis a modern classic about integrity, courage, and bucking the system. There is nothing worth stealing except the cashbox, which contains about £70 (equivalent to £1,500 in 2019). The short story, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner is a narrative written by Alan Sillitoe. The short story “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner” by Alan Sillitoe gave this genre a political perspective that changed the vision of a literary “runner”. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is a 1962 British coming-of-age film. I may need to read this again in the coming years. Directed by Tony Richardson. "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" is an outstanding short story collection. As part of the Angry Young Men who redefined British culture in the fifties, Sillitoe must have been pretty important in his day, but now what we have folks like Roddy Doyle and tons of dialect novels, Sillitoe seems a little quaint. Here in the United States, it's football season. Adapted for film by Sillitoe himself in 1962, it became an instant classic of British New Wave cinema. January 17, 2018 ; Written by: Joseph Carli 4 Replies; Image from blogtalkradio.com. Running is a solitary action and therefore allows Smith to begin to understand and become aware of the class divisions in Britain at the time. 1 question answered. That’s where the “loneliness” of his title (a riff on Alan Sillitoe’s 1959 story “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner”) comes in. “The Work of Play: Anger and the Expropriated Athletes of Alan Sillitoe and David Storey.” Modern Fiction Studies 33.1(1987): 35–47. 'The Loneliness of the Long. Meanwhile, at home, his father's long years of toil in a local factory have resulted in a terminal illness for which he refuses treatment and dies, leaving Colin as the family’s jobless breadwinner. July 16th 2007 They feel crushed by their lives and are only able to assert their freedom in the smallest and often most self-destructive ways. 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner' was also a movie from 1962, and based on his steely short story, it's narrated by Colin Smith, a young rebellious petty criminal who struggles to stay on the straight and narrow growing up in the poverty hit City of Nottingham. I kind of feel like I may have missed something with these tales (maybe I need to go back and read them again) but while I did really enjoy them and really feel for the main characters and their sense of melancholy and despair, I wasn't as enamoured as I thought I might be given the reviews this has gotten and the reputation it has. Some aspects of society may have changed but the anger and rebellion, the despair and disillusionment that many of his characters have to contend with are still around. larcenous, introspective working-class youth; long distance runners; Iron Maiden fans? The work focuses on Smith, a poor Nottingham teenager from a dismal home in a working class area, who has bleak … One of the great novellas to come from post-war Britain, a brilliant exercise in sustained narrative and characterization, an utterly compelling voice. Published in 1959, “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner” is the story of a young man who turns to running as a way of escaping a life teetering on the brink of petty crime and hardship. The boy turns to long-distance running as a method of both emotional and physical escape from his situation. I want to qualify this rating by saying that the title story in this collection is fantastic, and a few of the others were lovely in their own way. A new adaption of the story is in devel… I will be doing a video review of this as well. My knowledge of working-class English lingo is limited where I couldn’t navigate through enough of these stories on the whole to enjoy what the heck was going on. I re-read these stories every few years — at least the title one and a couple other ones. The short stories that accompany the novella are merely very good. Stories like "Uncle Earnest", "Mr. Raynor the school teacher", "The disgrace of Jim Scarfedale", "The Match" and "The decline and. Being a former cross-country runner, I suppose the title and unique format of eight short stories intrigued me enough to check it out. He never regrets his actions, believing it strengthened his independence and mind, even though it results in soul-destroying manual labour. Wonderful stories, well-written. However, more than half of these stories are dated back to the 40s and 50s. Life is bleak, with little prospects for a decent future, and after being caught stealing from a bakery he is sent to a borstal (Reform School). THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG-DISTANCE RUNNER is a powerful collection of stories. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Critics Consensus. Alan Sillitoe burst onto the British literary scene in the late 50s & early 60s writing tough and gritty stories predominantly set in the Midlands amongst the working class poor, and dole recipients of a Britain in decline in the post war years. I’ll admit it, I bought and read Alan Sillitoe’s short story collection. In “Uncle Ernest,” a middle-aged furniture upholsterer traumatized in World War II, now leads a lonely life. Synopsis "The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner" begins with Colin Smith (Tom Courtenay) running, alone, along a bleak country road somewhere in rural England. However, more than half of these stories are dated back to the 40s and 50s. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner: study guide The “runner” as a metaphor. A classic of northern working class literature, it’s as relevant today as it was in the 1950s it describes. I like the consistency of the atmosphere. [5] The use of this sport gives Smith the ability to escape from his life as a member of the working class poor. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner: Stories. The stories here take place in working class England in the immediate pre and post WWII era. The first part of this long story contains little in the way of conventional narrative: it is more in the nature of a manifesto. Welcome back. Published in 1959, “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner” is the story of a young man who turns to running as a way of escaping a life … I found this to be a rough go. Stories like "Uncle Earnest", "Mr. Raynor the school teacher", "The disgrace of Jim Scarfedale", "The Match" and "The decline and fall of Frankie Buller" are all well executed and interesting stories. THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG-DISTANCE RUNNER is a powerful collection of stories. As the two stand at Colin's front door in the rain, the torrent of water pouring down the drainpipe dislodges the money, which washes out around Colin's feet. It is the second screenplay he adapted from his own work after the also fantastic Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960). The characters are all in unhappy and near inescapable circumstances. Sillitoe does a great job of capturing the humanity in these characters without reducing them to caricatures. The story was adapted for a 1962 film of the same title. This book serves as a great antidote to the sort of elitist upper class short story collections that totally dominate publishing today. Sillitoe uses running in his story as a means of isolation. I like the consistency of the atmosphere. Alan Sillitoe was an English writer, one of the "Angry Young Men" of the 1950s (although he, in common with most of the other writers to whom the label was applied, had never welcomed it). [8], Poster, see wikimedia for further source information, Small, Helen. That's not saying it is the only story of merit because there are several stories that are compelling. How was The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, Alan Sillitoe? The work focuses on Smith, a poor Nottingham teenager from a dismal home in a working class area, who has bleak … Much to his surprise, he discovers a knack for the sport and quickly becomes a local star. I decided to take a look at ‘proletariat’ fiction in the 1950s. His first novel, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, was published in 1958 and was followed by a collection of short stories, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, which won the Hawthornden Prize for Literature. In this text, Sillitoe wrestles with the age old theme of The Other and demonstrates to varying degrees a criticism for how society views those who are considered as such. This backstory is interspersed in flashbacks with Colin's present-time experiences at Ruxton Towers, where he must contend with the jealousy of his fellow inmates over the favouritism shown to him by the Governor—especially when the Governor decides not to discipline Colin, as he does the others, for rioting in the dining hall over Ruxton's poor food. Smith is the protagonist and narrator of this, the longest story in the collection. The lesson we might draw from our experience, however, is very different from that of the long-distance runner. Way better and more vivid than i ever expected. The title story is perhaps the best of the bunch but they’re all very good, and from a historical and sociological point of view ex. Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner A bleak, but powerful 1960 British film that ranks as one of the most important United Kingdom imports of the decade. The film holds a rating of 70% on Rotten Tomatoes from 23 reviews. Refresh and try again. The loneliness of the long-distance runner. These short stories, while gritty and bleak, are well worth the read. They are being taken to Ruxton Towers, a detention centre for juvenile offenders, an approved school. This is one of the best collections of short stories, by an artist I'd never heard of, that I have ever read. [6] This is why Smith chooses to forfeit the race. Smith knows he can win, easy, but doesn't play ball. Here are real stories of 'class conflict'. To escape the restrictive circumstances of his existence he takes to running, long distance, and is really, really good at it, barely breaking into a sweat. The stories in this collection mostly deal with families like Sillitoe's - poor factory workers living in cramped, dirty houses where the noise, soot and grime of the nearby factory is a constant part of their lives. Sillitoe served four years in the Royal Air Force and lived for six years in France and Spain, before returning to England. Read it now. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. I was rather fond of some of the later ones that have a bit of wit and humour about them. Their power lies in the manner in wich they give you the satisfaction of reading, of constructing a story and give you the impression they have all the qualities a full novel should have. Running gives… This book s. "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" is an outstanding short story collection. The first part of this long story contains little in the way of conventional narrative: it is more In this text, Sillitoe wrestles with the age old theme of The Other and demonstrates to varying degrees a criticism for how society views those who are considered as such. The Governor takes Colin under his wing, offering him outdoor gardening work and eventually the freedom of practice runs outside Ruxton's barbed-wire fences. :)))))))))))))) rebellious guy against a totally complicated brutal system, Alan Sillitoe burst onto the British literary scene in the late 50s & early 60s writing tough and gritty stories predominantly set in the Midlands amongst the working class poor, and dole recipients of a Britain in decline in the post war years. "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" is a short story by Alan Sillitoe, published in 1959 as part of a short story collection of the same name. “the long-distance run of an early morning makes me think that every run like this is a life- a little life, I know- but a life as full of misery and happiness and things happening as you can ever get really around yourself” ― Alan Sillitoe, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner Locations were shot in and around Ruxley Towers, Claygate, Surrey – a Victorian mock castle built by Henry Foley, 5th Baron Foley. Not quite the same thing. During the period when Sillitoe wrote the book and screenplay the sport of running was changing. With Michael Redgrave, Tom Courtenay, Avis Bunnage, Alec McCowen. He tells the surly detective (Dervis Ward) he knows nothing about it. Alan Sillitoe’s 1959 collection of short stories, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, peeks into the lives of ordinary working-class men and boys with a keen observatory eye. The characters are all in unhappy and near inescapable circumstances. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner at Amazon.com. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner § Historical context, Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists, "Bryanston Films : An Experiment in Cooperative Independent Production and Distribution", http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/loneliness_of_the_long_distance_runner, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Loneliness_of_the_Long_Distance_Runner_(film)&oldid=997398088, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 31 December 2020, at 08:54. Colin symbolically burns some of his portion of the insurance money and uses the rest to treat Mike and two girls they meet to an outing in Skegness, where Colin confesses to his date, Audrey (Topsy Jane) that she is the first woman he's ever had sex with. I love the Northern accent and slang, so I often read very slowly in order to absorb as much as I could. The Governor was once a runner himself, and he is especially keen on Colin's abilities because, for the first time, his charges have been invited to compete in a five-mile cross-country run against Ranley, a nearby public school with privileged pupils from upper-class families. Sillitoe was born and raised in Nottingham, England, in a working-class family. But read the title story, it's great, and it gives you a feeling of wanting to punch a cop, which is a feeling that I think ought to be felt by everyone, at least once in a while. "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner in Browning, Sillitoe and Murakami.". With Michael Redgrave, Tom Courtenay, Avis Bunnage, Alec McCowen. But most of all they are just very good and often very moving stories. Strange, too. Literary critic Helen Small states, “…the weight of literary attention seems to be focused on a ‘pre-professional era’ — either written at that time or looking back at it for inspiration”. THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG-DISTANCE RUNNER is a powerful collection of stories. It is admirable that he is so true to himself, but his is a self best changed. I love the Northern accent and slang, so I often read very slowly in order to absorb as much as I could. Alan Sillitoe’s 1959 collection of short stories, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, peeks into the lives of ordinary working-class men and boys with a keen observatory eye. The film was directed by Tony Richardson, one of the new young directors emerging from the English Stage Company at the Royal Court. But there's a feeling of smallness in these stories, and the characters - with the notable exception of the runner in the first story - tend to get crushed under the wheel of plot machinations. In some ways, to my taste, this collection would have been better served by having fewer of the ‘stories in the middle section’ The first, 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner' is a marvellous novella, rather than short story. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is a kitchen sink drama that is based on a short story by Alan Sillitoe, who also wrote the script. A rebellious youth (Sir Tom Courtenay), sentenced to a boy's reformatory for robbing a bakery "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" : A teenager from Nottingham is convicted for robbing a bakery and sent to borstal where he finds solace in long distance running. The jobless Colin indulges in petty crime in the company of his best friend, Mike (James Bolam). The company has paid a paltry £500 in insurance money, and he watches with disdain as his mother (Avis Bunnage) spends what Colin considers an offensive sum. But there's a feeling of smallness in these stories, and the characters - with the notable exception of the runner in the first story - tend to get crushed under the wheel of plot machinations. Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner study guide. Colin, sullen and rebellious, immediately catches his eye as a test of his beliefs. “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner” has long been considered a masterpiece on both the page and the silver screen. But stories like "The Fishing Boat Picture", "Noah's Ark", and "On Saturday Afternoon" drag on too much. The protagonists of each story are up against it, battling with poverty and the temptation to commit petty crime. By all means watch "The loneliness of the long-distance runner",but don't believe it reflected British life in 1962.It merely reflected what Tony Richardson would have you believe British life was like in 1962. Maybe I read it too fast to really get pulled into the nitty gritty of each story or I'm lacking a certain level of empathy but I did find that on one hand each story captured the desperation of the times on the other I was kind of thinking 'for goodness sake sort yourself out and stop waiting for everyone else to do it'. Sillitoe’s character Smith uses running as a way to mentally reflect. The loneliness of the long-distance runner The short story, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner is a narrative written by Alan Sillitoe. This volume was a perfect encapsulation of a specific time and place, northern England before and a bit after the war. They just don't flow as well as the others. It is full of bitter, angry realism, a heady mix of despair, resignation and empowerment The stories here take place in working class England in the immediate pre and post WWII era. Especially for a writer who's acclaimed for giving life to working-class protagonists who usually get ignored in british lit, it seems like he doesn't have a. I want to qualify this rating by saying that the title story in this collection is fantastic, and a few of the others were lovely in their own way. Sillitoe does a great job of capturing the humanity in these characters without reducing them to caricatures. I'd say three stars for the title story, but two for most of the rest. "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" is a short story by Alan Sillitoe, published in 1959 as part of a short story collection of the same name. Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner study guide. The boys live in a series of Nissen huts with no privacy. That's not saying it is the only story of merit because there are several stories that are compelling. The protagonist in the narrative is Smith, a Nottingham adolescent from a simple home in a poor working class neighborhood. It was an immediate success, telling the story of a rude and amoral young labourer for whom drink and sex on Saturday night provide the only relief from the oppression of the working life. Class consciousness abounds throughout: the "them" and "us" notions that Richardson stresses reflect the basis of British society at the time, so that Redgrave's "proper gentleman" of a Governor is in contrast to many of the young working-class inmates. The film poster's byline is "you can play it by rules... or you can play it by ear – WHAT COUNTS is that you play it right for you...".[3]. [5][4] Sillitoe rejects the commoditisation of running in his book and screenplay, believing instead a professional becomes commercialised and loses the clarity of thought that comes with running otherwise. “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner” by Alan Sillitoe (The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, Vintage 1987)A classic for every literary runner’s anthology, this story affirms distance running as a journey through which linear time and … Readers’ questions about The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner. The screenplay was written by Alan Sillitoe from his 1959 short story of the same title. But Smith has a different understanding of honesty than the governor and has no intention of letting him bask in his own reflected glory. [7], The film was a box-office disappointment. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Critics Consensus. The proud Governor looks on as the starting gun is fired. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner at Amazon.com. A classic of northern working class literature, it’s as relevant today as it was in the 1950s it describes. The story is part of an anthology of short stories by the same author. I bought this book because I was attracted to the title, but only realized after the fact that it's an anthology. Just yards from the finish line, he stops running and remains in place, despite the calls, howls and protests from the Ruxton Towers crowd. The protagonist in the narrative is Smith, a Nottingham adolescent from a simple home in a poor working class neighborhood. Solitude was a solace for Smith, the hero of Alan Sillitoe’s 1959 short story that gave us the now-reviled phrase, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner. by Harper Perennial, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner. Superb collection of short stories. Maybe I read it too fast to really get pulled into the nitty gritty of each story or I'm lacking a certain level of empathy but I did find that on one hand each stor. In the final mile Colin overtakes Gunthorpe while running through the woods and then gains a comfortable lead with a sure win, but a series of jarring images run through his mind: jumpcut flashes of his life at home and his mother's neglect; his father's dead body; stern lectures from detectives, police, the Governor and Audrey. He stole money from a baker and was sentence to spend a couple of years in Borstal, a prison for juvenile delinquents. The film was directed by Tony Richardson, one of the new young directors emerging from the English Stage Company at the Royal Court. From his short-story collection The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1959), … The film depicts Britain in the late 1950s and early 1960s as an elitist place, where upper-class people enjoy many privileges while lower-class people suffer a bleak life, and its Borstal system of delinquent youth detention centres as a way of putting working-class people in their place. A juvenile offender (Sir Tom Courtenay) at a tough reform school impresses its Governor (Sir Michael Redgrave) with his running ability and is encouraged to compete in an upcoming race, but faces ridicule from his peers. He's stupid, and I'm not, because I can see further into the likes of him than he can see into the likes of me.”. The title story is the best known, owing largely to the 1962 film of the same name, directed by Tony Richardson and starring Tom Courtenay and Michael Redgrave.