- Paperback: 189 pages
- Publisher: Flamingo; New Ed edition (11 Oct 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0586092412
- ISBN-13: 978-0586092415
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.2 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 77,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
‘Cunning is what counts in life,’ says the seventeen-year-old narrator of the title piece of this exuberant collection of darkly comic tales that established Alan Sillitoe as one of England’s best writers and gave a voice to an entire generation of angry young men. Full of hard-won wisdom and gritty authenticity, these stories of working-class blokes slugging it out with the system in 1950s Nottingham resonate with the lusty defiance of those whose will cannot be broken by oppressive poverty. Poignant, often uproarious, and full of life, the stories provide fascinating social commentary and stand together in this collection as a modern British classic.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Back Cover
Smith is an incorrigible and defiant young rebel, inhabiting a no-man's land of institutionalised Borstal. Watched over by a phlegmy sunlight, as his steady jog-trot rhythm transports him over an unrelenting, frost-bitten earth, he wonders why, for whom and what he is running.
The film of the story, starring Tom Courtenay and Michael Redgrave, has cult status.
Evocative, realistic and superbly written, the other stories in this collection introduce us to, among others: the war-veteran Uncle Earnest who resorts to the oblivion of the beer pump to fill the passage of empty, loveless days; the school teacher Mr Raynor who relies on voyeurism to reward his exasperated, solitary existence.
"Sillitoe writes with tremendous energy, and his stories simply tear along."
DAILY TELEGRAPH
"All the imaginative sympathy in the world can't fake this kind of thing. It must have been lived in, seen, touched, smelled: and we are lucky to have a writer who has come out of it knowing the truth, and having the skill to turn that truth into art."
NEW STATESMAN
"Graphic, tough, outspoken, informal."
THE TIMES
"A beautiful piece of work, confirming Sillitoe as a writer of unusual spirit and great promise."
GUARDIAN
"A major writer who ought to be read."
MALCOLM BRADBURY
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and other stories,
By Elizabeth Ring (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Flamingo Modern Classic) (Paperback)
Contrary to a previous review, I actually preferred the other short stories within this text. Nevertheless, the title story effectively narrates, and captures the essence of, that particular brand of British post war class insurgency - delinquency. The forms class retaliation can take, including the psycho-social manifestations, are documented in a range of other short stories. The sheer boredom of poverty - physical, cultural and emotional - and a lack of sensory experience beyond the struggle for survival is similarly critiqued. It is a world devoid of sensuality, where happiness is precariously measured in terms of a lack of cold and hate. Sillitoe's prose allows the reader a voyeuristic and immensely satisfying journey into the inner world of the urban poor, a world of continual rejection, thwarted hope and ultimate numbness. In fact, Sillitoe is the literary expression of the band Pulp's sentiments in the track 'Common People' - "...we dance and drink and screw because there's nothing else to do". Sillitoe's final story, The Decline and Fall of Frankie Buller, is I believe one of the most intriguing short stories I have read (very similar to Robert Roberts' novel A Ragged Schooling).
7 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth it for the one story,
By
This review is from: The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Flamingo Modern Classic) (Paperback)
The book as a whole is let down by the stories which surround The Loneliness...They tend to be a little turgid and perhaps could at times be accused of being repetitive. However, the book is worth the price simply for that single story. Sillitoe actually allows us to understand not only the act of futile rebellion but also the virtually inexpressible motivation behind it. It is truely the greatest short story I have ever read - in fact I am now considering changing my vote to 5 stars despite the disapointing nature of the various other tales. Perhaps it is only in comparison to such a masterpiece that they appear poor.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.9 out of 5 stars (29 customer reviews) 31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Several standouts,
By Tyler Smith - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (Plume) (Mass Market Paperback)
This is Sillitoe's best-known work, a collection of stories presumably drawn in large part from his working class life in Great Britain. The book's emphasis on gritty realism will not be everyone's cup of tea -- no pun intended -- but I found his prose clean, powerful and nearly free of sentimentality.Sillitoe's sympathy for the working class is best demonstrated in the title story, narrated by a teen resident of a reform school whose voice vibrates with rebellion. The youth shows a keen awareness of his position within England's rigid class structure and has made a conscious decision to resist those whom he says have "the whip hand" over him. Sillitoe reveals the motivation for his protagonist's attitude in an understated but memorable scene in which the youth remembers finding his laborer father dead, blood spilled out of his consumptive body. The reader sees the boy's perception that his father's life has been used up by the system. In the story's surprising final turn, the youth -- who has become a champion runner for his school -- attempts in his own way to turn the tables on that system. The book contains several other strong stories. "The Fishing-Boat Picture" is the bittersweet memoir of a failed marriage; it effectively dramatizes the sense of lost opportunity we feel when our most important human connections are broken. "Mr Raynor the School-Teacher" brings to life the stultifying atmosphere of a London public school classroom presided over by a jaded teacher whose only ambition is to keep his rebellious charges at bay so that he can drift in reverie. "The Decline and Fall of Frankie Buller" has the feeling of a memoir. The narrator describes his hardscrabble youth and subsequent escape from his environment. Frankie Buller is the symbol of the ruined youth he left behind: a boy who was once a giant among his playmates who has grown older without ever progressing spiritually or creatively. The narrator would never wish to be a Frankie Buller, but his words are permeated with the guilty tone of the survivor. Not all of the stories succeed as admirably as these. Still, at his best, Sillitoe crafts the claustrophobic environments of his stories, often in the service of social criticism. His characters may long to escape the grays and blacks of their worlds, but the stories themselves offer no such escape for the reader. 32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A fine example of descritive writing.,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (Plume) (Mass Market Paperback)
This narrative story of an English working class teenager is set in the late 1940's/early 50's and is reminiscent of Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye". Sillitoe combines several themes in one short story,which can be read within 2-3 hours:a gifted youth struggling against social disadvantage,an insight into the reasons for the rise of socialism in post-war Britian and most impressively,a wonderful evocation of what it means to run,alone and across country.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Exceptionally well written, evocative stories...,
By Nelson Aspen "Author/Journalist" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (Plume) (Mass Market Paperback)
I purchased a well worn, musty smelling paperback edition of this book published in 1967 and thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful writing as well as the tactile sensation of thumbing my way through the cherished, yellowed pages. Brilliantly executed "tales of working class life and morals" are great to read--but none better than Chapter One about the Runner in the title. So well done, in fact, that my interest in the other stories quickly waned.For reading pleasure, I highly recommend this collection. For runners, especially, Chapter One is worth the purchase price. Now I'm eager to see the Tom Courtenay movie version, which is apparently excellent, too. |
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
