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Auténtico monumento de la literatura obrera inglesa y piedra de toque del movimiento de los Jóvenes Airados británicos, Sábado por la noche y domingo por la mañana fue la novela que lanzó a la fama a Alan Sillitoe. Arthur Seaton, su protagonista, es un muchacho de veintidós años, poco amante de los compromisos y que trabaja a destajo de lunes a viernes en una fábrica de bicicletas, en el sombrío Nottingham de los primeros años de la posguerra. Pero Arthur vive con los ojos puestos en el fin de semana. Cada sábado por la noche bebe hasta caerse redondo en el pub, se mete en todas las peleas que encuentra y trata de llevarse a la cama a las esposas de sus compañeros de trabajo. Sin embargo, pronto descubrirá que lo que cree que le hace libre constituye en realidad una cárcel, y que su existencia de rebelde tiene un lado oscuro cuyo rigor le es difícil imaginar.

A gripping thriller set among Britain's snowy peaks from the bestselling author of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. Suspense, secrets, conspiracy, and entrapment come to a head in this dark allegory of the modern postwar condition. Snowbound in the remote White Cavalier Hotel in the mountains of England's Lake District, a motley mix of strangers think they have found refuge, but instead discover a violent drama that is ready to explode. Among the mysterious guests imprisoned by the blizzard are a murderous BMW driver, a female hitchhiker, an anxious bookseller-forger, illicit lovers, aging Hells Angels bikers, a hostage of marriage, a loathsome father and son, and an IRA terrorist with a bomb-laden van. Everyone has brought along their personal baggage of guilt for crimes they have committed against society, and as they uncover one another's secrets and unwind a conspiracy, they must also face their own selves. Taking kitchen sink realism into the depths of winter and the infernal mind of a terrorist, acclaimed British novelist and “angry young man” Alan Sillitoe creates a poignant existential investigation with a chilling twist.

The long-anticipated sequel to Alan Sillitoe's bestselling classic 1950s novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Arthur and Brian Seaton are heading back to their hometown, Nottingham, some forty-odd years after the close of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. The brothers plan to surprise Brian's first love, Jenny Tuxford, on her seventieth birthday. Arthur, the notorious lothario, still has some of his old spark, but it has been hampered by domestic life and his wife's recent cancer diagnosis. Meanwhile, Brian, now a failed novelist but successful television writer living in London, is struggling with dissatisfaction and emotional regrets. He and Jenny had fooled around in their teenage years—a lot of heavy petting through complicated clothing on her parents'settee—but Jenny ended up marrying someone else. Now that Jenny's husband has passed away, will sparks fly between her and Brian again? It is clear that the Nottingham of their youth no longer exists. The trams are now buses; the collieries and ironmongers have been replaced by cell phone shops and halal grocers; new high-rise apartments have sprung up; and the idle young hang around the city pubs whining about the dole. Where Saturday Night and Sunday Morning portrayed the chaotic energy of youth, Birthday is an investigation of the other end of the spectrum: the contemplation of missed chances and terminal decline, and the awareness that “death's blackout could descend at any minute.” This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alan Sillitoe including rare images from the author's estate.

Nine classic short stories portraying the isolation, criminality, morality, and rebellion of the working class from award-winning, bestselling author Alan Sillitoe The titular story follows the internal decisions and external oppressions of a seventeen-year-old inmate in a juvenile detention center who is known only by his surname, Smith. The wardens have given the boy a light workload because he shows talent as a runner. But if he wins the national long-distance running competition as everyone is counting on him to do, Smith will only vindicate the very system and society that has locked him up. “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner” has long been considered a masterpiece on both the page and the silver screen. Adapted for film by Sillitoe himself in 1962, it became an instant classic of British New Wave cinema. In “Uncle Ernest,” a middle-aged furniture upholsterer traumatized in World War II, now leads a lonely life. His wife has left him, his brothers have moved away, and the townsfolk treat him as if he were a ghost. When the old man finally finds companionship with two young girls whom he enjoys buying pastries for at a café, the local authorities find his behavior morally suspect. “Mr. Raynor the School Teacher” delves into a different kind of isolation—that of a voyeuristic teacher who fantasizes constantly about the women who work in a draper's shop across the street. When his students distract him from his lustful daydreams, Mr. Raynor becomes violent. The six stories that follow in this iconic collection continue to cement Alan Sillitoe's reputation as one of Britain's foremost storytellers, and a champion of the condemned, the oppressed, and the overlooked. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alan Sillitoe including rare images from the author's estate.

Over forty short stories spanning the career of England's most acclaimed postwar writer—including the iconic “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner.” This comprehensive collection of short fiction from bestselling British author Alan Sillitoe mixes aggression with humor, and common working-class men with extraordinary twists of fate. It compiles works selected from the master storyteller's bestselling books, including The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner; The Ragman's Daughter; Guzman, Go Home; Men, Women and Children; and The Second Chance. Several previously unpublished works are also included. In the title story from The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner—which was adapted for film in 1962—a seventeen-year-old inmate in a juvenile detention center must make a difficult life choice. Should he strive to win the national long-distance running competition as everyone is counting on him to do, or should he refuse to vindicate the very system and society that has locked him up? The titular piece from The Ragman's Daughter is a lively and poignant narrative about an eighteen-year-old thief named Tony and his new girlfriend, Doris, the seventeen-year-old daughter of a well-to-do scrap dealer. The couple embarks on a wild robbery spree, but after a raid on a shoe shop goes absurdly wrong, Tony ends up behind bars and Doris remains free—but suffers a dark destiny. A standout tale from Guzman, Go Home, “Revenge” details the dangerously tumultuous marriage between factory foreman Richard and his ornery wife, Caroline. “Mimic,” from the previously collected Men, Women and Children, takes place in the mind of a nameless hero who is locked away in an asylum—a man who uses the art of mimicry to escape reality and avoid being himself. And in “No Name in the Street,” from The Second Chance, an ex-miner who ekes out a living collecting social security and hunting for golf balls, moves in with a woman who has indoor plumbing—but his dog refuses to go along with the plan. This essential collection reveals the power and timelessness of Sillitoe's short fiction. Called “a master of the short story” by the Times, the author portrays the complex ethos and pathos of working-class life.

A sweeping collection of poetry from one of Great Britain's most celebrated postwar writers. Bestselling British novelist Alan Sillitoe delves into the profound and personal world of poetry in this collection of two hundred poems written between 1950 and 1990. Culled from seven previously published volumes of verse—and including twenty-one newly collected works—Sillitoe employs wit, humor, aggression, and longing to take readers into the depths of his perceptions and philosophical musings. The compilation begins with Sillitoe's early poems, which first appeared in The Rats and Other Poems (1960) while the writer was at work on his acclaimed novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. In “Shadow” a castaway meets a gentleman whom he recognizes as his own death. Meanwhile, a temperate climate renders death powerless in “Poem Written in Majorca.” And in “Excerpts from ‘The Rats',” themes of mental exile, isolation, and the proliferation of corruption echo the sentiments of Arthur Seaton, the hero of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. Proceeding chronologically, the next section includes works from A Falling Out of Love and Other Poems (1964). Here, the reader encounters a haunting confrontation with suicide in “Poem Left by a Dead Man,” a meditation on the elemental yet incomparable suffering of a poet in “Storm,” and a description of metaphysical chores in “Housewife.” Selections from Love in the Environs of Voronezh and Other Poems (1968) and Storm and Other Poems (1974) follow, including such works as “Baby” and “Smile,” which ponder questions of inevitability and impossibility in everyday life. Unexpected perspectives on the Devil appear in the poems from Snow on the North Side of Lucifer (1979). Sun Before Departure (1974–1982) features the surreal and atmospheric “Horse on Wenlock Edge.” And the selections from Tides and Stone Walls (1986), including the koanlike “Receding Tide,” were inspired by a series of sea landscapes by photographer Victor Bowley. In the final section, New Poems (1986–1990), Sillitoe contemplates hope in the aftermath of war in “Hiroshima,” and deciphers an uncanny Morse code message in “Noah's Arc.” At once dark and luminous, Collected Poems offers both a departure from and insight into the “kitchen sink realism” Sillitoe is famous for. These pages impart an intimate look into the heart and mind of one of England's most celebrated authors, and convey a profound vision of life—one in which death is close, but laughter is never far away.

A journey into nineteenth-century travel guides to the UK, Europe, and Soviet Union as researched and written by one of England's most distinguished authors. In this quirky and illuminating social history, bestselling British author Alan Sillitoe culls fascinating details from Victorian-era guidebooks and travelogues in order to recount the pleasures, dangers, traps, and delights of travel in the century leading up to World War I. For instance, in Switzerland, an English officer once fell into a bears'den and was “torn in pieces.” In Paris, the outdoor seating at cafés was in “unpleasant proximity to the gutters.” In Germany and the Rhine, the denominations marked on coins did not necessarily indicate their value. And in Northern Italy, a traveler could look forward to a paradise of citron and myrtle, palms and cyclamen. For the armchair traveler journeying into a bygone era, Sillitoe begins with the essential practicalities relevant to any tourist: the price of passports and visas, how best to clear customs, and how many bags to pack. He includes timeless advice, such as: Board a boat on an empty stomach if you are prone to seasickness, and always break in your boots before embarking on a trip. Anachronistic recommendations abound as well: It is best to leave your servant at home, carry your milk with you when traveling to small Italian villages, and not pay children and “donkey women” for flowers. From convalescent hotels in the South of France to malaria-ridden marshes between Rome and Naples, and from the chaos of Sicily and southern Italy to the dazzling bullfights and rampant thieves of sunny Spain, Sillitoe guides readers through the minutiae of the Mediterranean with wit and historical insight. Then he takes an anecdote-filled road east into Greece, Egypt, the Holy Lands, Turkey, and Russia. Of course, the Grand Tour would not be complete without a thorough account of his home turf of England, with her idiosyncratic hamlets, smoke-filled skies, and working-class townsfolk in high-buckled shoes. At once a fascinating history of travel books from 1815 to 1914 and an entertaining ode to wanderlust, Leading the Blind brings to life the absurd and profound wonders of Victorian globetrotting. With simple but captivating prose, Sillitoe also shows how the way we view foreign lands can reveal a lot about what is happening at home.

This fusion of novel and memoir from a bestselling British author chronicles the destructive effects of WWI on two working-class families in Nottingham. An advocate for ordinary people, Alan Sillitoe combines family memoir with exhaustive research on military records, and fuses them with artistic speculation in this inventive and political historical novel. Central to the story are the author's grandfather, the blacksmith Ernest Burton, and his uncle Edgar, a World War I deserter. The launching point for this narrative family album is a legless match-seller from Sillitoe's childhood who “walked” on the streets of Nottingham with his hands. When the young Sillitoe asked his family about the reasons behind this man's deformity, he heard a series of different accounts: His mother said it was a train accident, his father claimed it was an explosion during the Battle of the Somme, his grandmother was convinced it was a birth defect, and his grandfather declared it was a way of dodging work. Thus Sillitoe sets the tone for a tale in which “anything which is not scientific or mathematical thought is colored by the human imagination and feeble opinion.” In order to rediscover the fictional truth behind his own spirit, Sillitoe then delves into his heritage. He paints a telling portrait of his maternal grandfather, a blacksmith who hated dogs, despised the people who loved him, and was blinded in one eye by a shred of steel. Separated from society by his illiteracy, and both feared and respected for his instinctual cunning, Ernest was a tyrant to his wife and eight children, a hardworking provider, and a talented craftsman. On his father's side of the family, Sillitoe explores the life of his uncle Edgar, “the darling of the family” who enlisted in the British army when the Great War began in 1914. However, when the young man discovered that his service consisted of dysentery, haircuts, and taking orders, he “sensibly” deserts. To avoid the military police, he leaves Nottingham and bicycles furiously on the back roads to his sister's house in Hinkley, but is caught a few days later in a pub and sent back to his battalion. A persistent man, Edgar deserts a second time and hides out in the forest, but again he is captured and sent just in time to join the Sherwood Foresters on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Raw Material spans a century of family history and legends, interweaving personal memories with collected facts and hearsay. The “kitchen-sink realism” Sillitoe is known for takes on a more philosophical and transparent approach in this innovative self-portrait that explores the base matter and inspirations of the esteemed British novelist's life work.

This memoir and literary travelogue from one of the UK's most esteemed novelists offers rare insight into Cold War–era Russia. In 1967, seeking an escape from his writing life, bestselling British novelist Alan Sillitoe embarks on a road trip from England to Russia via Harwich and Finland in his sturdy Peugeot. During his teens, the author had a cartographic fascination with the Battle of Stalingrad, and decades later he is still armed with intricate maps of the country based on British military intelligence, including one of the road from Leningrad to Moscow to Kiev, which he drew himself. Also in tow are a prismatic compass, binoculars, and a shortwave radio receiver. However, despite being so well prepared, Sillitoe embarks with naiveté about the political precariousness of an Englishman in the eyes of the Soviet regime. After passing through the endless days of a Scandinavian summer and a prolonged stop at a border control checkpoint—with his maps hidden in a secret compartment of the car—Sillitoe arrives in Leningrad. There, he meets George Andjaparidze, a worldly and candid English student who has been assigned by the Writers'Union to serve as the author's guide and keep him out of trouble. Though Sillitoe would rather continue his journey solo, Andjaparidze grows on him, and they begin what will become a lasting friendship. As soon as the duo leaves Leningrad, adventures and misadventures ensue. En route to Moscow, Sillitoe and Andjaparidze end up racing a pack of middle-age men in German sports cars partaking in a Berlin-to-Moscow rally. Sillitoe and Andjaparidze's time in the capital is equally fast-paced, consisting of late nights fueled by vodka, impounded rubles, caviar breakfasts, erudite parties, and a pat on the back from a traffic cop for writing about the working class. A winding drive across western Russia and into Yugoslavia follows, replete with rebellious literature students, a speech on freedom, a visit to Tolstoy's estate, accusations of espionage, and a near-fatal run-in with a brigade of Red Army tanks. At last the writer and guide reach their destination: Kursk, that fateful place where a Soviet victory in 1943 turned back the Nazi tide. But the story continues long after the road trip ends. Back in England, Andjaparidze visits Sillitoe and the two are caught up in a controversy surrounding the defection of the Soviet writer Anatoly Kuznetsov. Written from the perspective of another trip to Russia forty years later (Sillitoe was invited in 2005 by the British Council to return to Moscow), this travelogue provides a rare and intimate look at the country's history, a compassionate understanding of its troubled ideology, and a frank portrayal of its undeniable lure.

A madcap, bawdy tale about an ordinary man who goes to work for a racketeer and has the adventure of a lifetime: the last novel by an iconic British writer. Michael Cullen, from Nottingham, has a shady past, but nearing his forties, he's settled down, married a doctor, and started working for an ad agency. That is, until the agency fires him. He's not terribly upset though. Actually, he feels free—he hated that job. But he knows he's disappointed his wife and isn't sure what to do next, so he decides to hit the road for a few weeks. Then, he's contacted by his old boss, Claude Moggerhanger. A racketeer whom Cullen once tried—and failed—to put in jail, Moggerhanger seems to have forgiven him, and wants to hire him to do a little “job.” All he has to do is drive Moggerhanger's Rolls Royce to Greece, get Greek food for Moggerhanger's wife, collect a few packages, and deliver one in Belgrade. This sounds pretty suspect to Cullen, but he needs the money and has nothing else to do—plus, Moggerhanger can be very persuasive. It's only the beginning of a wild adventure with a cast of characters featuring Cullen's father, who's a famous writer, and his long-suffering girlfriend; crazed poets; endless women; rat catchers; Labrador retrievers; the highly menacing Green Toe Gang; and his old friend, Bill Straw, a former mercenary soldier. This novel will make you want to quit your job and go on the road, come what may. Moggerhanger is the 3rd book in the Michael Cullen Novels, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Descatalogada desde hace años, y recientemente rescatada en una nueva edición, estamos ante una de las autobiografías más impactantes escritas por un novelista en el siglo XX. Alan Sillitoe, considerado un autor clave de la generación más brillante de la literatura inglesa de posguerra, narra aquí su formación como escritor: sus años de infancia y de penurias en una casa de protección oficial en la ciudad industrial de Nottingham, la evacuación durante la guerra y sus años en el ejército, en Malasia, la tuberculosis y su renacimiento como polémico miembro del movimiento de los Jóvenes Airados; la publicación de sus primeros libros y su éxito como autor generacional. Un libro que evoca, en toda su crudeza, el alma de una época, y constituye un relato vívido de la escena cultural y social de la Inglaterra, entre sórdida y triunfalista, que alumbró a Graham Greene, Muriel Spark, Kingsley Amis o Philip Larkin. Una de las autobiografías más sinceras e impactantes escritas por un novelista en el siglo XX. Un retrato del artista obrero en la durísima Inglaterra industrial.

Colin Smith es un joven de clase obrera que vive en un barrio de Nottingham con su madre viuda, el amante de esta y sus tres hermanos pequeños. Su vida no es ejemplar, pero lo será aún menos cuando robe una panadería y acabe en un reformatorio. Una vez allí, se aficiona a correr y, gracias a sus cualidades como atleta, obtiene unos privilegios que no desea para sí. Hasta que finalmente tendrá que elegir entre el éxito como héroe deportivo y la soledad del corredor de fondo. En este volumen, con nueva traducción de Mercedes Cebrián, se reúne una descarnada colección de relatos centrados en el sombrío aislamiento de la clase obrera, en los pequeños delitos que se cometen para salir adelante y en la profunda ira que domina a los habitantes de las ciudades industriales, abocadas a la desesperación. Una realidad que sigue hoy tan vigente como lo fuera hace más de medio siglo. Un libro de ruptura generacional, cumbre de la literatura británica del XX, que ejemplifica a la perfección el carácter del rebelde sin causa.

The Open Door follows Saturday Night and Sunday Morning as the final volume in the Seaton series. Returning on a troopship from Malaya in 1949, Brian Seaton (Arthur's brother) comes back to a Nottingham world of rationing, the black market, a wife he no longer loves and a child who does not recognise him. He is full of life and lust, but he has tuberculosis, forcing a long stay in a military hospital where he falls for first one nurse, then a second, while carrying on a relationship with another TB sufferer back in Nottingham. In the background, this partially autobiographical novel reveals that Seaton is starting to write, meeting others like him as he realises there is a wider world than the back streets of his Midlands home.