The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
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The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1959), by Alan Sillitoe (contained in a short story collection of the same name) was cinematically adapted as The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), about Colin, a poor Nottingham teenager from a dismal home, with few prospects in life, and few interests beyond petty crime. When he is caught for robbing a bakery, Colin is confined in a borstal (prison school) for delinquent youth. There, he seeks solace in long-distance running, attracting the notice of the school’s authorities, but, during an important cross-country meet, which his prison school is winning against another school, he stops running short of the finish line to defy the authority of his Establishment captors.
On 9 January 2009, impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich referred to the story: “Let me simply say, I feel like the old Alan Sillitoe short story ‘The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner’. . . and that’s what this is, by the way, a long-distance run”.[1]
[edit] Analysis
The short story has elements of a Hegelian Master-slave dialectic between the protagonist (whose interior monologue composes the narrative) and the "In-Laws," the Establishment as represented by the head of the borstal. The protagonist, haunted by his personal oppression as well as that of the lower-class which he belongs (the "Out-Laws"), believes that he has a more complete realization of freedom due to his enslavement. He experiences freedom through running and the semi-philosophical pondering which he engages in while running.
[edit] Musical Adaptations
- The British heavy metal group Iron Maiden adapted the short story into the song of the same name on their Somewhere in Time album.
- British Oi! and punk band The Angelic Upstarts included a song of the same name on their Reason Why? album.
- Scottish rock group Belle and Sebastian, adapted the title for the song "Loneliness of a Middle Distance Runner" on their 2001 EP, Jonathan David.
- American band Ruxton Towers takes its name from the film, in which a reformatory school has the same name.
- Washington D.C. punk band Fugazi have a song entitled "Long Distance Runner" on their fourth LP, Red Medicine.
- Swedish rapper Promoe has a song entitled "Long Distance Runner" on his second LP that bears the same name.
