Saturday Night and Sunday Morning - Alan Sillitoe

 

Came across this 1950's book in a kinda roundabout way, via Ray Davies talking about it in the most recent Kinks book that I read. Apparently, the Davies brothers appreciated Sillitoe's rowdy, life-loving, boozin', womanizin', well dressed, pre-Mod, sorta Teddy Boy-ish main character as well as his expressive writing style.

Seemingly at least partially autobiographical, Sillitoe's Arthur loves drinkin'n'women in the evenings, and works hard doing piece work in a bicycle factory during the day, a job that he actually doesn't mind all that much since it is one he can basically do automatically and let his mind roam free while earning the cash for his more earnest activities.

Sillitoe's style is truly engaging, with a great attention to detail while maintaining a fun and flowing storyline. On occasion his British-isms and phonetic depictions of their accents can be a bit much, but nothing that takes away from the story and while Arthur may have some character flaws (he drunkenly vomits over two strangers and beds another man's wife as you first meet him), he comes across as an intelligent, likable bloke who knows his place in the world and does his best to enjoy his lot in life.

Of course, there's plenty of drama - he gets his mistress pregnant, gets a fairly daft recommendation on how to handle it (that somehow works, although there doesn't appear to be any medical reason why it should have), and immediately bed's his mistress' sister, thereby getting numerous soldiers after him simultaneously! Of course, much more goes on, excitement mixed with daily trudgery, as Arthur's life kinda sorts itself out for him.

Great style and an engaging story about "real" people living real lives. I'm going to look more into Sillitoe's writings.

New and Collected Stories - Alan Sillitoe

 I've really been appreciating Sillitoes' writing since I found out about Saturday Night and Sunday Morning via a book on the Kinks and discovered this collection after reading The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. It seems that the stories from that book are all collected here, as well, so I supposed I should have gotten this first, if I had known, but there is a lot more in this tome.

Sillitoe describes the lives of working class Brits in the 50's and 60's, normal folks, although often with a tendency towards the petty criminal and away from the straight'n'narrow, boring, everyday lives. Plenty of loose sex, adultery, drinking, fighting and pilfering going on throughout the tales and told in the dialects in conversational tones. In a way, Alan kinda reminds me a little of Bukowski in basic style and tone, but with his own mannerisms, of course, and with Britishisms peppered throughout the narrative.

Most of the stories are stand-alones that end whenever they seem fit, but Sillitoe does indulge in a sequel to one of the tales included, and there is at least one that is much more elaborate than most of the tales of ordinary goings-ons, but still very well told, even if sometimes it is left up to you to imagine how the story concludes or what happened to who. Murder is brought into the fold more than once in this collection, which is sorta unusual for him as he tended towards more mundane subjects in previous stories.

At over 600 pages, this is a fairly huge compilation, but the stories are all compelling and will keep you reading'n'coming back for more. I'm not sure what else is left of his to discover, although I've heard of a couple of autobiographies that I might have to peruse at some point. Fine writing!

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner - Alan Sillitoe

 I really enjoyed Sillitoe's writing style in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and wanted to visit more of his works, and this was the first that I found (others apparently are available, that I will have to research). This is a compilation of short stories that follow in his oeuvre, with conversational story-telling mixed with plenty of visual details, told in a highly engaging manner.

This opens with the title story, the runner being a convict who trains with vigor but purposely loses the race that the warden is counting on (and bets on) just to teach him a (somewhat vague) lesson. He paints a picture of Britain in the mid-20th century and the various characters that inhabit it, from a lonely upholsterer, a slightly perverted school teacher and his daydreams, a divorced couple's odd relationship (as told through a painting), a couple of kids' adventures at a fair, another youngster who witnesses an attempted suicide, a finely detailed tale of two individuals watching a soccer match, along with a couple of other random people with stories to tell.

Sillitoe has a down-to-earth approach to his writing - somewhat Bukowski-ish, in a way, in that he brings to life folks from the poorer parts of town, with plenty or particulars, and all of their foibles in the foreground, whether it be drinking, gambling, carousing, fighting, stealing, or other vices'n'virtues. He brings to life his fiction, in a way that pulls you in. 

This is another author that I can imagine getting hooked on. I'll have to see what else there is to find from this gent. Totally recommended!