From "Anti-Hero" To "Romantic Hero"

Alan Sillitoe, a representative of the Angry Young Men who were well-known in British literary circle in 1950's, is considered to be the greatest working-class writer after D·H·Lawrence. He is famous for the distinct features of times, simple realism and special "anti-hero" images in his novels and has become a leading role in British literary world. His works, having the poor labourers' life as a background, naturally describing their true miserable life, reflect class antagonisms with profound social significance, which therefore have left behind a magnificent in the history of British literature. Taking his early novels, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner as research objects, this paper attempts to do an exploring study on Alan Sillitoe and his works, and then makes a comprehensive analysis and interpretation on his early novels.This paper consists of six parts. Introduction mainly introduces the translating and introducing of Alan Sillitoe and his works. Chapter one deals with the Angry Young Men who are a group of writers, makes clear the relationship between Alan Sillitoe and the Angry Young Men, and points out that he is the most eye-catching writer in this group. Chapter two introduces Alan Sillitoe and his works in detail. Chapter three analysizes emphatically characters, themes and creation features in his representative works, and explores a series of images in his early novels on the basis of overall discussion. Chapter four discusses realism of his early novels. The conclusion makes a general summary to the former texts, furthermore affirms the greatness of his works, and restates the importance of Alan Sillitoe in the history of British literature.