Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, The

a collection of thematically linked stories by Alan Sillitoe, published in 1959. The highly praised title story tells of a boy in Borstal who, when chosen to run a race, uses it to subvert the control of the authorities whose power he resents. Told in the first person in the authentic vernacular voice of a working-class youth, the story sets the pace for the rest of the collection, which is a realistic record of the minds and lives of the English working class, and pays tribute to the restless, rebellious, and resilient spirits it occasionally produces.