Life Without Armour

by Alan Sillitoe

Out of print for many years, and republished in this new edition, this is the autobiography of the formative years of one of our finest writers. Alan Sillitoe has been critically acclaimed for his many novels and short stories, including the bestsellers 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' and 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner'. Sillitoe s early years of council-house penury in Nottingham, followed by evacuation, life in the army, tuberculosis, his rebirth as a polemical angry young man, and the publication of his first books are told with emotion and dexterity. The strong sense of place, whether the Malayan jungle or seedy post-war England, is vivid and enduring, and the story of his life is told in a masterful and poignant yet unsentimental prose. Sillitoe was described by the 'Observer' as a master storyteller , and this is the evocative and memorable telling of the physical and mental coming of age of one of our finest and most enduring authors. About the Author Alan Sillitoe was born in 1928. He became a bestselling writer through the publication in 1958 of his famous novel 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning', which was made into a film starring Albert Finney. This was followed a year later by the publication of his classic short story 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner', which won the Hawthornden Prize for Literature and was also made into a major film. Alan Sillitoe has published many novels and short stories and several volumes of poetry. Also published by Robson Books 'New and Collected Stories' (1 86105 635 4) and 'A Flight of Arrows' (1 86105 634 6). Alan lives in London, W11.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

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).
For more see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Sil...

Reviews

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little self-righteous in places...and a bit snobby. Also can be a grump. The main problems though are the ongoing patches of sanctimonious fortune-cookie cliches about the (True) Path of the Writer, and (what's worse) the fact that it's (especially during the middle when describing his RAF--or whatever--experiences) pretty damn tedious. Often just seems like an accretion of separate paragraphs uninterested in each other--and this problem isn't helped by the tendency to use a lot of sentences of the "______, and ______" form.

[Asha Stark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing, however at least I know now why Sillitoe always raged against the label 'working class': Because having spent his teens working, and a few years at the wireless for the army... He didn't work. At all. He lounged around in Majorca, France, all over the show living off a pension for a decade.

[Rob Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this around 2000. It's a good read and brings to life Sillitoe's working class Nottingham background pretty well. All the while though there was a suspicion he was holding something back. The title gives a hint of something the content doesn't deliver since Sillitoe doesn't fully give of himself. There is a fairly chipper tone running through it that could be a defense mechanism caused by the vulnerability the author hints at in the title but succeeds too well at covering it up. Sillitoe spent sixteen months in an RAF hospital and came out pretty well considering, but that and a few other scrapes are adumbrated and never fully explored. Sillitoe once said "A writer, if he manages to earn a living at what he's doing – even if it's a very poor living, acquires some of the attributes of the old-fashioned gentleman (if I can be so silly)." Maybe it's partly that old-fashioned gentleman's stiff upper lip. It might be a very working class reticence. Whatever it is, it may be that it's worth reaching for the authorised biography before this. Perhaps Sillitoe needed somebody there prodding him, asking that question "but what did that feel like?"

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

In-depth look at the author's life and experiences. I enjoyed his frank approach and hadn't realized he was so accomplished in so many areas aside from writing. He had a truly "inquiring mind" and was always open to learn.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting autobiography by this under appreciated British author. His novels are excellent.

[Mientras Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

No ha estado nada mal, aunque me quedo con La soledad del corredor de fondo. Sin duda alguna

[Jordi Planas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tras la publicación de dos títulos emblemáticos de la literatura británica como son “La soledad del corredor de fondo” y “Sábado por la noche y domingo por la mañana”, Impedimenta recupera la autobiografía de Alan Sillitoe. Con el elocuente título de “La vida sin armadura”, repasa momentos claves de su trayectoria vital, empezando por una difícil infancia con un padre analfabeto y violento. Pero aunque se le integró en la corriente de los “angry young men” (jóvenes airados) y una literatura con raíces de clase obrera, Sillitoe siempre rechazó las etiquetas. Narra también su época en Malasia, donde ejerció de telegrafista. Allí contrajo la tuberculosis, lo que le obligó a guardar cama un tiempo y le imposibilitó para ejercer su ilusión: aviador. Sin embargo, pudo cobrar una pensión por minusvalía y disponer de tiempo para leer y escribir. Luego se instaló unos años en Mallorca (también explica anécdotas ocurridas en Málaga y Barcelona) y estuvo un total de ocho años escribiendo y enviando originales hasta que por fin le publicaron su primer libro. Sillitoe es así el ejemplo de que el talento no sirve de nada si no hay detrás un trabajo duro y una férrea voluntad. El libro termina justo cuando empezó a cosechar sus primeros éxitos y con la adaptación al cine de “Sábado por la noche, domingo por la mañana”, aunque su guión sufrió varias mutilaciones. Como escribió elocuentemente, “tuve el impulso de decirles a los imbéciles de la censura que se jodieran, pero había que seguir aquellos consejos de guardería si queríamos que la película se estrenara”.
JORDI PLANAS