"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. Alan Sillitoe’s ‘Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner’ seemed like a good place to start, and it turned out to be a welcome choice. The original trumpet theme to the film was performed by Fred Muscroft, the Principal Cornet (at the time) of the Scots Guards. They feel crushed by their lives and are only able to assert their freedom in the smallest and often most self-destructive ways. 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. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published This is one of the best collections of short stories, by an artist I'd never heard of, that I have ever read. I suppose you'll laugh at this, me saying the governor's a stupid bastard when I know hardly how to write and he can read and write and add-up like a professor. Hutchings, William. Running is also used as a metaphor to give Smith the ability to escape from the reality of his class level in society. With Michael Redgrave, Tom Courtenay, Avis Bunnage, Alec McCowen. [6] This is why Smith chooses to forfeit the race. Smithappears in The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner. [5] The use of this sport gives Smith the ability to escape from his life as a member of the working class poor. See all 3 questions about The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner…, Britain's Angry Young Literature (50s & 60s), Agosto - Septiembre 2014: La soledad del corredor de fondo, March 2013 - Classic - The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe. 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. 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. With over fifty volumes to his name, Sillitoe was elected a Fellow of … Smith is the protagonist and narrator of this, the longest story in the collection. THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG-DISTANCE RUNNER is a powerful collection of stories. That's not saying it is the only story of merit because there are several stories that are compelling. Truly good art...and a pleasant, and shocking surprise. “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 … Sillitoe served four years in the Royal Air Force and lived for six years in France and Spain, before returning to England. 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). Start by marking “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner” as Want to Read: Error rating book. 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. These are angry stories at heart, but there is also plenty of black humour throughout. Sillitoe's discontent with the status quo is represented well in his short story The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner study guide. 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. During the period when Sillitoe wrote the book and screenplay the sport of running was changing. A rebellious youth (Sir Tom Courtenay), sentenced to a boy's reformatory for robbing a bakery Locations were shot in and around Ruxley Towers, Claygate, Surrey – a Victorian mock castle built by Henry Foley, 5th Baron Foley. 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. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner: Stories. Readers’ questions about The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner. 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. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. 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. Smith is a great character with equally fascinating motivations that makes for a tremendous story. We’d love your help. 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. The screenplay was written by Alan Sillitoe from his 1959 short story of the same title. 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. I will be doing a video review of this as well. I read these stories and then read something quite contemporary like the sketches in Treats and I can see the line connecting the two quite clearly. 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. Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner study guide. 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 in Browning, Sillitoe and Murakami.". Finally, the day of the five-mile race against Ranley arrives, and Colin quickly identifies Ranley's star runner, Gunthorpe (James Fox). Its title story recounts the story of a reform school cross-country runner who seizes the perfect opportunity to defy the authority that governs his life. But Smith has a different understanding of honesty than the governor and has no intention of letting him bask in his own reflected glory. Don't get me wrong, the writing is amazing, is really gritty and feels very real and each story captures you and pulls you along. Anyone familiar with the films of either Ken Loach or Shane meadows will know of the political messages, social issues, and harsh urban realism they deal with, and deal with brilliantly, Sillitoe does the same, only on paper. Colin is then shown with a group of other young men, all handcuffed. I’ll admit it, I bought and read Alan Sillitoe’s short story collection. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner: Stories. A classic of northern working class literature, it’s as relevant today as it was in the 1950s it describes. The work focuses on Smith, a poor Nottingham teenager from a dismal home in a working class area, who has bleak prospects in life and few interests beyond petty crime. I re-read these stories every few years — at least the title one and a couple other ones. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Critics Consensus. 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”. Sillitoe does a great job of capturing the humanity in these characters without reducing them to caricatures. I enjoyed them, mostly because they captured a time and way of life that is frequently mined in creative works but seldom so deftly sketched – these stories are neither sentimental fluff of the good ole days nor darkly pessimistic tripe. But what I say is true right enough. 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 spirituality (the runner feeling freedom as "the first man" when he goes out for his training in the morning) that helps them accept their role in a cruel world. Colin rebels by refusing a job offered to him at his father's factory. I found this to be a rough go. The language was evocative and I could picture everything perfectly. From his short-story collection The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1959), Sillitoe helped adapt the title story … The “runner” as a metaphor. 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]. But stories like "The Fishing Boat Picture", "Noah's Ark", and "On Saturday Afternoon" drag on too much. They did, however, remind me a great deal of the novels (, The titular story is by far the best,probably because it is the most fleshed out. The protagonist of the title story has to be one of the great rebels of literature, and an interesting opposite to the Marxist concept of an individual's political (class) consciousness. I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up this book, which has sat on the shelves of my local library for over 40 years. Here in the United States, it's football season. It’s distinctly British and middle-class and despite sixty years or so, youth’s expectations and disappointment in the older generations — and in the opposite sex — hasn’t changed much. One of the great novellas to come from post-war Britain, a brilliant exercise in sustained narrative and characterization, an utterly compelling voice. “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. He never regrets his actions, believing it strengthened his independence and mind, even though it results in soul-destroying manual labour. The 1962 film "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" is my favorite of the British New Wave, which is why a friend lent me this short story collection. Sillitoe is at his finest in first-person stories, where he captures the … 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. Read it now. It's time of great rivalry, wearing of team colors, and obsessing over the... To see what your friends thought of this book, aweeeesooooome piece of work!!!! A classic of northern working class literature, it’s as relevant today as it was in the 1950s it describes. Finally, frustrated and angry, he returns to say he'll be watching Colin. “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 … I liked the title story: the twist was devilish and I admit that in a couple of others I was hooked. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is a 1962 British coming-of-age film. I liked the title story: the twist was devilish and I admit that in a couple of others I was hooked. 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. Alan Sillitoe was one of the angry young men producing media vaunting or depicting the plight of rebellious youths. Some of these stories of working class lives in the first half of the 20th century almost made me cry. His mother moves her lover, whom Colin resents, into the house; an argument ensues, and she tells Colin to leave until he can bring home some money. The protagonist in the narrative is Smith, a Nottingham adolescent from a simple home in a poor working class neighborhood. 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". Literature about running has changed over the course of history. The language was evocative and I could picture everything perfectly. Refresh and try again. 'The Loneliness of the Long. The Governor is clearly disappointed. It's a wonder more of these stories weren't translated to film or TV. 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 extremely interesting. EbscoHOST. A new adaption of the story is in devel… Way better and more vivid than i ever expected. "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" is an outstanding short story collection. The film was directed by Tony Richardson, one of the new young directors emerging from the English Stage Company at the Royal Court. I like the consistency of the atmosphere. Superb collection of short 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. I was rather fond of some of the later ones that have a bit of wit and humour about them. And yet they are so misguiding simple. Sillitoe's discontent with the status quo is represented well in his short story The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. 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. 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. 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. Sillitoe was born and raised in Nottingham, England, in a working-class family. 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. It's a wonder more of these stories weren't translate. Smithappears in The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner. The following year came his second book, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. This volume was a perfect encapsulation of a specific time and place, northern England before and a bit after the war. 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. A great contempt for all aspects of writing. I'd say three stars for the title story, but two for most of the rest. 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 … There is a lot told in them without seeming over hasty. ... piece of work!!!! The work focuses on Smith, a poor Nottingham teenager from a dismal home in a working class area, who has bleak … It is full of bitter, angry realism, a heady mix of despair, resignation and empowerment In the ‘loneliness of the long-distance runner’, Colin smith faces emotional alienation and he turns to run in an effort to succumb to this plight. 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. All in all Sillitoe is clearly a good writer and I will check out other works by him. Soon the police call, accusing Colin of the robbery. [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. Its title story recounts the story of a reform school cross-country runner who seizes the perfect opportunity to defy the authority that governs his life. 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. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner at Amazon.com. 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. Throughout the 1960s, Sillitoe’s character Smith, and the act of defiance that closes the story — in the 1959 collection “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner,” and the … 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. At the end, Colin is back in the Borstal's machine shop, now ignored by the Governor. All deal with lower class English families. The 1962 film "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" is my favorite of the British New Wave, which is why a friend lent me this short story collection. '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. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner: study guide Adapted for film by Sillitoe himself in 1962, it became an instant classic of British New Wave cinema. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. The first part of this long story contains little in the way of conventional narrative: it is more They feel crushed by their lives and are only able to assert their freedom in the smallest and often most self-destructive ways. Smith knows he can win, easy, but doesn't play ball. This book serves as a great antidote to the sort of elitist upper class short story collections that totally dominate publishing today. Strange, too. 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. He stole money from a baker and was sentence to spend a couple of years in Borstal, a prison for juvenile delinquents. The story is part of an anthology of short stories by the same author. This is one of the saddest books I have ever read; not because it contains so much misery but rather because it is so brilliantly described that it feels so real. The characters are all in unhappy and near inescapable circumstances. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Critics Consensus. 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. 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'. The first part of this long story contains little in the way of conventional narrative: it is more in the nature of a manifesto. He turns to long-distance running as a… But I found that by the time I finished the collection I just wanted to grab them all and give them a good kick up the backsides, where was the grit and determine that the first guy has in Loneliness? 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. [4] Her research stresses that Sillitoe was an author who believed in the unadulterated sport. 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