The Lonelinesss of the Long-distance Runner

Zusatztext “One of the best English writers of the day.”— The New York Times Book Review “Sillitoe offers an authentic and vivacious portrait. . . . A sheer delight.”— Saturday Review   “A beautiful piece of work.”— The Guardian “Brilliant.”— The New Yorker   “Mr. Sillitoe is a born writer! who knows his milieu and describes it with vivid! loving precision.” — Daily Telegraph   “There are few writers around who can rival Sillitoe when it comes to the complicated business of noticing things.” — Literary Review   “A master storyteller.” — The Observer   “Miles nearer the real thing than D.H. Lawrence's mystic! brooding working-men ever came.” — Sunday Express Informationen zum Autor Alan Sillitoe was born in 1928, the son of a tannery worker. He left school at age fourteen to work in a factory. He was one of the working-class novelists who revitalized British fiction in the 1950s. His first novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning was followed with the bestselling collection The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner . He adapted both works for the screen in the early 1960s. He is the author of more than 40 works of prose, poetry, and drama. Klappentext Perhaps one of the most revered works of fiction in the twentieth-century, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is a modern classic about integrity, courage, and bucking the system. 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. It is a pure masterpiece. From there the collection expands even further from the touching "On Saturday Afternoon" to the rollicking "The Decline and Fall and Frankie Buller." Beloved for its lean prose, unforgettable protagonists, and real-life wisdom, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner captured the voice of a generation, and its poignant and empowering life lessons will continue to captivate and entertain readers for generations to come.As soon as I got to Borstal they made me a long-distance cross-country runner. I suppose they thought I was just the build for it because I was long and skinny for my age (and still am) and in any case I didn't mind it much, to tell you the truth, because running had always been made much of in our family, especially running away from the police. I've always been a good runner, quick and with a big stride as well, the only trouble being that no matter how fast I run, and I did a very fair lick even though I do say so myself, it didn't stop me getting caught by the cops after that bakery job. You might think it a bit rare, having long-distance cross-country runners in Borstal, thinking that the first thing a long-distance cross-country runner would do when they set him loose at them fields and woods would be to run as far away from the place as he could get on a bellyful of Borstal slumgullion-but you're wrong, and I'll tell you why. The first thing is that them bastards over us aren't as daft as they most of the time look, and for another thing I'm not so daft as I would look if I tried to make a break for it on my long-distance running, because to abscond and then get caught is nothing but a mug's game, and I'm not falling for it. Cunning is what counts in this life, and even that you've got to use in the slyest way you can; I'm telling you straight: they're cunning, and I'm cunning. If only 'them' and 'us' had the same ideas we'd get on like a house on fire, but they don't see eye to eye with us and we don't see eye to eye with them, so that's how it stands and how it will always stand. The one fact is that all of us are cunning, and because of this there's no love lost between us. So the thing is that they know I won't try to get away from them: they sit there like spiders in that crumbly manor house, perched like jumped-up jackdaws on the roof, wa...

Product details

• Authors: Alan Sillitoe
• Publisher: Vintage USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 02.03.2010
• EAN: 9780307389640
• ISBN: 978-0-307-38964-0
• No. of pages: 192
• Dimensions: 135 mm x 205 mm x 15 mm
• Series: VINTAGE BOOKS; Vintage International; Vintage International
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature