Editing Alan Sillitoe

{{Short description|English writer (1928–2010)}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox writer
| image = Alan sillitoe-10 05 09.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Sillitoe in May 2009
| name = Alan Sillitoe
| honorific_suffix = [[Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature|FRSL]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1928|3|4|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Nottingham]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|2010|4|25|1928|3|4|df=y}}
| death_place = London, England
| occupation = Writer
| period =
| genre =
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks = ''[[Saturday Night and Sunday Morning]]'' (1958); <br />"[[The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner]]" (1959)
| spouse = [[Ruth Fainlight]]
| children =
| relatives =
| signature =
| website =
}}

'''Alan Sillitoe''' [[Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature|FRSL]] (4 March 1928{{spaced ndash}}25 April 2010)<ref>Obituary, ''[[The Times]]'', 26 April 2010.</ref><ref name="guardianobit">{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=25 April 2010|author=Richard Bradford|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/apr/25/alan-sillitoe-obituary|access-date=5 June 2013|title=Alan Sillitoe obituary}}</ref> was an English writer and one of the so-called "[[angry young men]]" of the 1950s.<ref name=nytimesobit>{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/books/26sillitoe.html|title=Alan Sillitoe, 'Angry' British Author, Dies at 82|access-date=5 June 2013|date=26 April 2010|author=Bruce Weber}}</ref><ref name=telegraphobit>{{cite news|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|title=Alan Sillitoe, Obituary|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/theatre-obituaries/7632431/Alan-Sillitoe.html|access-date=5 June 2013|date=26 April 2010}}</ref><ref name=wapoobit>{{cite news|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/26/AR2010042604066.html|title=Alan Sillitoe, 82, dies; chronicled restless British youth|date=27 April 2010|author=Martin Weil|access-date=5 June 2013}}</ref> He disliked the label, as did most of the other writers to whom it was applied. He is best known for his [[debut novel]] ''[[Saturday Night and Sunday Morning]]'' and his early short story "[[The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner]]", both of which were adapted into films.

== Biography ==
Sillitoe was born in [[Nottingham]] to working-class parents, Christopher Sillitoe and Sabina (née Burton). Like Arthur Seaton, the anti-hero of his first novel, ''[[Saturday Night and Sunday Morning]]'', his father worked at the [[Raleigh Bicycle Company]]'s factory in the town.<ref name=guardianobit/> His father was illiterate, violent,<ref name=econobit>{{cite news|newspaper=The Economist|title=Alan Sillitoe|url=http://www.economist.com/node/16004295|access-date=5 June 2013|date=29 April 2010}}</ref> and unsteady with his jobs, and the family was often on the brink of starvation.<ref name=guardianobit/>

Sillitoe left school at the age of 14, having failed the entrance examination to [[grammar school]].<ref name=telegraphobit/> He worked at the Raleigh factory for the next four years, spending his free time reading prodigiously and being a "serial lover of local girls".<ref name=econobit/> He joined the [[Air Training Corps]] in 1942,<ref name="theguardian.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/may/20/academicexperts.highereducationprofile|title = Interview: Alan Sillitoe| website=[[TheGuardian.com]] |date = 19 May 2008}}</ref> then the [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF), albeit too late to serve in the [[World War II|Second World War]]. He served as a wireless operator in [[Malayan Union|Malaya]] during the [[Malayan Emergency|Emergency]].<ref name=guardianobit/> After returning to Britain, he was planning to enlist in the [[Royal Canadian Air Force]]<ref name="theguardian.com"/> when it was discovered that he had [[tuberculosis]]. He spent 16 months in an RAF hospital.<ref name=guardianobit/>

Pensioned off at the age of 21 on 45 shillings (£2.25) a week, he lived in France and Spain for seven years in an attempt to recover. In 1955, while living in [[Mallorca]] with the American poet [[Ruth Fainlight]], whom he married in 1959,<ref>{{cite web|title=Sillitoe-Fainlight |url=http://www.paulbowles.org/sillitoefainlightbowles.html |access-date=11 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120124101401/http://www.paulbowles.org/sillitoefainlightbowles.html |archive-date=24 January 2012 |url-status=live |df=dmy }}</ref> and in contact with the poet [[Robert Graves]], Sillitoe started work on ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'', which was published in 1958. Influenced in part by the stripped-down prose of [[Ernest Hemingway]], the book conveys the attitudes and situation of a young factory worker faced with the inevitable end of his youthful philandering. As with [[John Osborne]]'s ''[[Look Back in Anger]]'' (1956) and [[John Braine]]'s ''[[Room at the Top (novel)|Room at the Top]]'' (1957), the novel's real subject was the disillusionment of post-war Britain and the lack of opportunities for the working class. ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'' was adapted as a [[Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (film)|film with the same name]] by [[Karel Reisz]] in 1960, with [[Albert Finney]] as Arthur Seaton; the screenplay was written by Sillitoe.<ref name=wapoobit/>

Sillitoe's 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.<ref name=guardianobit/> It was also adapted into a [[The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (film)|film]], in 1962, directed by [[Tony Richardson]] and starring [[Tom Courtenay]]. Sillitoe again wrote the screenplay.

With Fainlight he had a child, David. They later adopted another, Susan. Sillitoe lived at various times in [[Kent]], London and [[Montpellier]].<ref name=guardianobit/> In London he was friendly with the bookseller Bernard Stone (who had been born in Nottingham a few years before Sillitoe) and became one of the bohemian crowd that congregated at Stone's Turret Bookshop on [[Kensington|Kensington Church Walk]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/feb/10/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries|title=Obituary: Bernard Stone| website=[[TheGuardian.com]] |date=10 February 2005}}</ref>

In the 1960s Sillitoe was celebrated in the [[Soviet Union]] as a spokesman for the "oppressed worker" in the West. Invited to tour the country, he visited several times in the 1960s and in 1968 he was asked to address the Congress of Soviet Writers' Unions, where he denounced [[Human rights in the Soviet Union|Soviet human rights abuses]], many of which he had witnessed.<ref name=guardianobit/>

In 1990 Sillitoe was awarded an honorary degree by Nottingham Polytechnic, now [[Nottingham Trent University]]. The city's older [[Russell Group]] university, the [[University of Nottingham]], also awarded him an honorary D.Litt. in 1994. In 2006 his best-known play was staged at the university's [[University of Nottingham#Lakeside Arts Centre|Lakeside Arts theatre]] in an in-house production.

Sillitoe wrote many novels and several volumes of poems. His autobiography, ''Life Without Armour'', which was critically acclaimed on publication in 1995, offers a view of his squalid childhood. In an interview Sillitoe claimed that "A writer, if he manages to earn a living at what he's doing, even if it's a very poor living, acquires some of the attributes of the old-fashioned gentleman (if I can be so silly)."<ref>Wood, Ramsay,"Alan Sillitoe: The Image Shedding the Author", Four-Quarters, La Salle College, Philadelphia, 1971 [http://www.roberttwigger.com/ Robert Twigger blog entry, 6 August 2011]</ref>

''Gadfly in Russia'', an account of his travels in Russia spanning 40 years, was published in 2007.<ref name=bbcobit/> In 2008, [[London Books]] republished ''A Start in Life'' in its London Classics series to mark the author's 80th birthday. Sillitoe appeared on ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'' on [[BBC Radio 4]] on 25 January 2009.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gsv4l|title = BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Alan Sillitoe}}</ref>

Sillitoe's long-held desire for ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'' to be remade for a contemporary filmgoing audience was never achieved, despite strong efforts. [[Danny Brocklehurst]] was to adapt the book and Sillitoe gave his blessing to the project, but Tony Richardson's estate and Woodfall Films prevented it from going ahead.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/natasha-richardson-member-of-celebrated-acting-family-who-found-success-on-stage-and-screen-1649501.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090321182315/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/natasha-richardson-member-of-celebrated-acting-family-who-found-success-on-stage-and-screen-1649501.html |archive-date=2009-03-21 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|title=Natasha Richardson: Member of celebrated acting family who found success on stage and screen|author=Tom Vallance|date=20 March 2009|access-date=5 June 2013}}</ref>

Sillitoe was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Literature]] in 1997.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rslit.org/content/fellows |title=Royal Society of Literature All Fellows |publisher=Royal Society of Literature |access-date=10 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100305070326/http://www.rslit.org/content/fellows |archive-date=5 March 2010 }}</ref>

==Death==
[[File:Highgate Cemetery - East - Alan Sillitoe 02.jpg|thumb|Sillitoe's grave in [[Highgate Cemetery]]]]
Sillitoe died of cancer on 25 April 2010 at [[Charing Cross Hospital]] in London. He was 82.<ref name=guardianobit/><ref name=bbcobit>{{cite web|website=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8642720.stm|title=Author Alan Sillitoe dies in London|access-date=5 June 2013|date=25 April 2010}}</ref> He is buried in [[Highgate Cemetery]].

==Works==

===Novels===
* ''[[Saturday Night and Sunday Morning]]'', London:  Allen, 1958; New York:  Knopf, 1959. New edition (1968) has an introduction by Sillitoe, commentary and notes by David Craig. Longman edition (1976) has a sequence of Nottingham photographs, and stills from the film, Harlow.
* ''[[The General (1960 novel)|The General]]'', London: Allen, 1960; New York: Knopf, 1961
* ''[[Key to the Door (novel)|Key to the Door]]'', London: Allen, 1961; New York: Knopf, 1962; reprinted, with a new preface by Sillitoe, London: Allen, 1978
* ''[[The Death of William Posters]]'', London: Allen, 1965; New York: Knopf, 1965
* ''A Tree on Fire'', London: Macmillan, 1967; Garden City, NY:  Doubleday, 1968
* ''[[A Start in Life (1970 novel)|A Start in Life]]'', London: Allen, 1970; New York: Scribners, 1971
* ''Travels in Nihilon'', London: Allen, 1971; New York: Scribners, 1972
* ''The Flame of Life'', London: Allen, 1974
* ''[[The Widower's Son]]'', Allen, 1976; New York: Harper & Row, 1977
* ''The Storyteller'', London: Allen, 1979; New York: Simon & Schuster, 1980.
* ''Her Victory'', London: Granada, 1982; New York: Watts, 1982
* ''The Lost Flying Boat'', London: Granada, 1983; Boston: Little, Brown, 1983
* ''Down from the Hill'', London: Granada, 1984
* ''Life Goes On'', London: Granada, 1985
* ''Out of the Whirlpool''. London: Hutchinson, 1987
* ''[[The Open Door (Sillitoe novel)|The Open Door]]'', London: Grafton/Collins, 1989
* ''Last Loves'', London: Grafton, 1990; Boston: Chivers, 1991
* ''Leonard's War: A Love Story''. London: HarperCollins, 1991
* ''Snowstop'', London: HarperCollins, 1993
* ''The Broken Chariot'', London: Flamingo/HarperCollins, 1998
* ''The German Numbers Woman'', London: Flamingo/HarperCollins, 1999
* ''Birthday'', London: Flamingo/HarperCollins, 2001
* ''A Man of His Time'', Flamingo (UK), 2004, {{ISBN|0-00-717327-X}}; Harper Perennial (US), 2005. {{ISBN|0-00-717328-8}}; {{ISBN|978-0-00-717328-0}}

===Collections of short stories===
* ''[[The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (collection)|The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner]]'', London: Allen, 1959; New York: Knopf, 1960
* ''The Ragman’s Daughter and Other Stories'', London: Allen, 1963; New York: Knopf, 1964
* ''Guzman, Go Home, and Other Stories'', London: Macmillan, 1968; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1969; reprinted, with a new preface by Sillitoe, London; Allen, 1979
* ''Men, Women and Children'', London: Allen, 1973; New York: Scribners, 1974
* ''Down to the Bone'', Exeter: Wheaton, 1976
* ''The Second Chance and Other Stories'', London: Cape, 1981; New York:  Simon & Schuster, 1981
* ''The Far Side of the Street: Fifteen Short Stories'', London: Allen, 1988
* ''Alligator Playground: A Collection of Short Stories'', Flamingo, 1997, {{ISBN|0-00-655073-8}}
* ''New and Collected Stories'', Carroll and Graf, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7867-1476-X}}

===Compilations===
* ''Every Day of the Week: An Alan Sillitoe Reader'', with an introduction by John Sawkins London: Allen, 1987
* ''Collected Stories'', London: Flamingo, 1995; New York: HarperCollins, 1996

===Writing for children===
* ''The City Adventures of Marmalade Jim'', London: Macmillan, 1967; Toronto: Macmillan, 1967; revised ed., London: Robson, 1977
* ''Big John and the Stars'', London: Robson, 1977
* ''The Incredible Fencing Fleas'', London: Robson, 1978. Illus. Mike Wilks.
* ''Marmalade Jim at the Farm'', London: Robson, 1980
* ''Marmalade Jim and the Fox'', London: Robson, 1984

===Essays/travel===
* ''Road to Volgograd'', London: Allen, 1964; New York: Knopf, 1964
* ''Raw Material'', London: Allen, 1972; New York:  Scribners, 1973; rev. ed., London: Pan Books, 1974; further revised, London: Star Books, 1978; further revised, London: Allen, 1979
* ''Mountains and Caverns: Selected Essays'', London: Allen, 1975
* ''Words Broadsheet Nineteen'', by Sillitoe and Ruth Fainlight. Bramley, Surrey: Words Press, 1975. Broadside
* ''"The Interview"'', London: The 35s (Women's Campaign for Soviet Jewry), 1976
* ''Israel: Poems on a Hebrew Theme'', with drawings by Ralph Steadman; London: Steam Press, 1981 98 copies.
* ''The Saxon Shore Way: From Gravesend to Rye'', by Sillitoe and Fay Godwin. London: Hutchinson, 1983
* ''Alan Sillitoe’s Nottinghamshire'', with photographs by David Sillitoe. London: Grafton, 1987
* ''Shylock the Writer'', London: Turret Bookshop, 1991
* ''The Mentality of the Picaresque Hero'', London: Turret Bookshop, 1993, Turret Papers, no. 2. (500 copies)
* ''Leading the Blind: A Century of Guidebook Travel. 1815-1914'', London: Macmillan, 1995
* ''Gadfly in Russia'', JR Books, 2007

===Plays===
* ''Three Plays'', London:  Allen, 1978 Contains ''The Slot-Machine'', ''The Interview'', ''Pit Strike''

===Autobiography===
*''Life Without Armour'', (HarperCollins, 1995) {{ISBN|0-00-255570-0}}, {{ISBN|978-0-00-255570-8}}

===Collections of poems===
* ''Without Beer or Bread'', Dulwich Village: Outposts, 1957
* ''The Rats and Other Poems'', London: Allen, 1960
* ''Falling Out of Love and Other Poems'', London; Allen, 1964; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964
* ''Shaman and Other Poems"'', Turret, 1968 (Limited ed. of 500 copies, 100 copies signed and numbered)
* ''Love in the Environs of Voronezh and Other Poems'', London: Macmillan, 1968; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1969.
* ''Poems'', by Sillitoe, Ruth Fainlight and Ted Hughes; London: Rainbow Press, 1971. (300 copies)
* ''From Canto Two of The Rats'', Wittersham, Kent: Alan Sillitoe, 1973
* ''Barbarians and Other Poems'', London: Turret Books, 1973. 500 copies
* ''Storm: New Poems'', London: Allen, 1974
* ''Somme'', London: Steam Press, 1974. In Steam Press Portfolio, no. 2. 50 copies
* ''Day-Dream Communiqué'', Knotting, Bedfordshire: Sceptre Press, 1977. 150 copies
* ''From Snow on the North Side of Lucifer'', Knotting, Bedfordshire:  Sceptre Press, 1979. (150 copies)
* ''Snow on the North Side of Lucifer: Poems'', London: Allen, 1979
* ''Poems for Shakespeare 7'', Bear Gardens Museum and Arts Centre, 1979 (Limited to 500 numbered copies)
* ''More Lucifer'', Knotting, Bedfordshire: Martin Booth, 1980. 125 copies
* ''Sun Before Departure: Poems, 1974&ndash;1982'', London: Granada, 1984
* ''Tides and Stone Walls: Poems'', with photographs by Victor Bowley; London: Grafton, 1986
* ''Three Poems'', Child Okefurd, Dorset: Words Press, 1988. 200 copies
* ''Collected Poems'', London:  HarperCollins, 1993

===Film scripts===
* ''[[Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (film)|Saturday Night and Sunday Morning]]'' (1960) (screenplay based on own novel)
* ''[[The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (film)|The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner]]'' (1962) (screenplay based on own short story)
* ''[[Counterpoint (1968 film)|Counterpoint]]'' (1967) (based on his novel ''The General'')
* ''[[The Ragman's Daughter]]'' (1972) (based on short story)

===Translations===
*''Chopin's Winter in Majorca 1838&ndash;1839'', by Luis Ripoll, translated by Sillitoe. Palma de Majorca: Mossen Alcover, 1955
*''Chopin’s Pianos: The Pleyel in Majorca,'' by Luis Ripoll, translated by Sillitoe. Palma de Majorca: Mossen Alcover, 1958
* ''All Citizens Are Soldiers (Fuente Ovejuna): A Play in Two Acts'', by [[Lope de Vega]], translated by Sillitoe and Ruth Fainlight. London: Macmillan, 1969; Chester Springs, PA: Dufour, 1969
* ''Poems for Shakespeare, volume 7'', edited and translated by Sillitoe and Ruth Fainlight. London: Bear Gardens Museum & Arts Centre, 1980

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100429020654/http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE63O0WM20100425 Reuters]

==Further reading==
* Gerard, David E., and H. W. Wilson. ''Alan Sillitoe: A Bibliography'', Mansell, 1986 (UK) {{ISBN|0-7201-1829-8}}; Meckler, 1988 (US) {{ISBN|0-88736-104-8}}.
* Penner, Allen R. ''Alan Sillitoe'', Twayne, 1972.
* Vaverka, Ronald Dee. ''Commitment as Art: A Marxist Critique of a Selection of Alan Sillitoe's Political Fiction''. (1978 Dissertation, Uppsala University.)
* Atherton, Stanley S. ''Alan Sillitoe: A Critical Assessment'', W. H. Allen, 1979. {{ISBN|0-491-02496-7}}
* Craig, David. ''The Roots of Sillitoe's Fiction.'' In ''The British Working-Class Novel in the Twentieth Century'', ed. Jeremy Hawthorn, Edward Arnold, 1984. {{ISBN|0-7131-6415-8}}
* Hitchcock, Peter. ''Working-Class Fiction in Theory and Practice: A Reading of Alan Sillitoe'', UMI Research Press, 1989. {{ISBN|0-8357-1976-6}}
* Wilding, Michael. 'Alan Sillitoe's Political Novels', Sydney Studies in Society and Culture, 8, 1993
* Hanson, Gillian Mary. ''Understanding Alan Sillitoe'', Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1999. {{ISBN|1-57003-219-X}}
* Sawkins, John. ''The Long Apprenticeship: Alienation in the Early Work of Alan Sillitoe'', Peter Lang, 2001. {{ISBN|3-906764-50-8}}
* Bradford, Richard. ''The Life of a Long-distance Writer: The Biography of Alan Sillitoe'', Peter Owen, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-7206-1317-9}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote|Alan Sillitoe}}
{{commons category|Alan Sillitoe}}
* {{IMDb name|0798105}}
*[[Ramsay Wood]]'s 1971 interview 'Alan Sillitoe: The Image Shedding the Author', Four Quarters, [[La Salle University]], Philadelphia, on [[Robert Twigger]]'s blog 6 August 2011 [http://www.roberttwigger.com/]
*[http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/id/2242 LeftLion interview with Alan Sillitoe]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100429081601/http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/id/2928 LeftLion obituary for Alan Sillitoe]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110616062421/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article4860454.ece The start of Alan Sillitoe : How Sillitoe stood apart from the tradition of other Northern novelists going soft and successful in the South; Times online 1 October 2008]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071001015531/http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth01K23Q323512620555 Contemporary Writers: Alan Sillitoe]
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,1183500,00.html Guardian article, 2004]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/aug/15/on-the-trail-of-an-angry-young-man Guardian article, 2011]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/6748859.stm Alan Sillitoe describes his life as a smoker prior to the England smoking ban]
* [http://www.nottingham21.co.uk/build_white_horse_1.htm The White Horse Public House made famous in 'Saturday Night & Sunday Morning']
* [http://www.london-books.co.uk  London Books]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130914080944/http://www.sillitoetrail.com/iphone-app/ Sillitoe Trail iPhone App] James Walker and Paul Fillingham, Commissioned by Arts Council England and BBC. 28 October 2012.

{{Angry young men}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sillitoe, Alan}}
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:2010 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century English poets]]
[[Category:English male poets]]
[[Category:Burials at Highgate Cemetery]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in England]]
[[Category:English male novelists]]
[[Category:English male short story writers]]
[[Category:English short story writers]]
[[Category:English socialists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Nottingham]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force personnel of the Malayan Emergency]]
[[Category:Writers from Nottingham]]