Editing Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

{{Short description|1958 novel by Alan Sillitoe}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox book
| name         = Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
| title_orig   = 
| translator   = 
| image        = Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.jpg
| caption      = Cover of the first UK edition
| author       = [[Alan Sillitoe]]
| illustrator  = 
| cover_artist = [[Mona Moore]]
| country      = United Kingdom
| language     = English
| series       = 
| subject      = 
| genre        = 
| publisher    = [[W. H. Allen Ltd]]
| pub_date     = 1958
| media_type   = Print (hardback and paperback)
| pages        = 213 pp
| isbn         = 
| oclc         = 1807352
}}
'''''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning''''' is the [[first novel]] by British author [[Alan Sillitoe]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth01K23Q323512620555 |title=Alan Sillitoe |accessdate=2007-10-01 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001015531/http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth01K23Q323512620555 |archivedate=2007-10-01 }}</ref> and won the [[Authors' Club Best First Novel Award]].

It was adapted by Sillitoe into the [[Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (film)|1960 film of the same name]] starring [[Albert Finney]], directed by [[Karel Reisz]], and in 1964 was adapted by [[David Brett]] as a play for the [[Nottingham Playhouse]], with [[Ian McKellen]] playing one of his first leading roles.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mckellen.com/stage/00026.htm|title=SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING with Ian McKellen|website=www.mckellen.com|accessdate=Jun 10, 2019}}</ref>

Sillitoe later wrote three further parts to the Seatons' story, ''[[Key to the Door]]'' (1961), ''[[The Open Door (Sillitoe novel)|The Open Door]]'' (1989)<ref>The Contemporary Review - Volume 254 - Page 213 
1989 - Equally remarkable, though for different reasons, is Alan Sillitoe's new novel, The Open Door. It is the third and final volume of the Seaton trilogy, the other two being Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and Key to the Door. The scene is Nottingham, to which Brian Seaton returns after what should have been his demobilisation from Malaya in 1949: but the late discovery by army doctors that he has tuberculosis dashes his hopes of finding a new, exciting career in civilian life, based on ...</ref> and ''Birthday'' (2001).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/mar/31/fiction.reviews2|title = Review: Birthday by Alan Sillitoe|website = [[TheGuardian.com]]|date = 30 March 2001}}</ref>

==Plot==

The novel ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'' is split into two unequal parts: the bulk of the book, Saturday Night, and the much smaller second part, Sunday Morning.

'''Saturday Night'''

Saturday Night begins in a working man's club in Nottingham. Arthur Seaton is 22 years old, and enjoying a night out with Brenda, the wife of a colleague at work. Challenged to a drinking contest, Arthur defeats "Loudmouth" before falling down the stairs drunk. Brenda takes him home with her and they spend the night together. Arthur enjoys breakfast with Brenda before her husband Jack gets home from a weekend at the races.

Arthur works at a lathe at a bicycle factory with his friend Jack. Arthur keeps his mind occupied during the mundane and repetitive work through a mental collage of imagined fantasies, and memories of the past. He earns a good wage of 14 pounds a week, and Robboe, his superior, fears he may get in trouble for letting Arthur earn so much. Soon Arthur hears the news that Jack has been switched to nights, which pleases Arthur as he can now spend more time with Jack's wife. At the same time, Arthur carries on with Brenda's sister Winnie.

During another night out at the pub, Arthur meets Doreen, a young unmarried girl with whom he begins a relatively innocent courtship — all the while keeping Brenda and Winnie a secret. However, although Jack is oblivious to his wife's infidelity, Winnie's husband Bill catches on — and Arthur's actions catch up with him when Bill and an accomplice jump Arthur one night, leaving him beaten and bed-ridden for days.

'''Sunday Morning'''

Sunday Morning follows the course of events after Arthur's assault. When Doreen comes to check up on him, Arthur finally comes clean about his affairs with Brenda and Winnie. Doreen stays in a relationship with Arthur despite his dishonesty; Brenda and Winnie disappear from the story. By the end of the novel, Arthur and Doreen have made plans to marry.

==Cultural references==
* Miranda Grey in [[John Fowles]]'s ''[[The Collector]]'' (1963) found the book and its protagonist Arthur Seaton "disgusting".
* English singer [[Morrissey]] was heavily influenced by the book and its [[Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (film)|1960 film adaptation]]. The runout groove on the B-side of vinyl copies of [[The Smiths]]' 1986 album ''[[The Queen Is Dead]]'' feature the line "Them was rotten days" said by Aunt Ada (Hylda Baker) in the film. Also the line said by Doreen before Arthur takes her to the fair "I want to go where there's life and there's people" inspired the song "[[There Is a Light That Never Goes Out]]" on the same album ("I want to see people and I want to see life").
* The title of [[Arctic Monkeys]]' debut album ''[[Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not]]'' is a direct quote from the book, and many of its songs were inspired by the protagonist Arthur. The art design of the album was influenced by the realist images of British working-class neighbourhoods and night life in ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning''.<ref name="IMDB">{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054269/trivia|title=Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) - IMDb|accessdate=Jun 10, 2019|via=www.imdb.com}}</ref>
* During a 2011 BBC interview on ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'', the comedian [[Frank Skinner]] stated that ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'' was the first book he read at the age of 21.
* In 2013, BBC Radio 4 presented a two-part dramatic adaptation (by Robert Rigby) of the novel.

==Critical reception==

On 5 November 2019, ''[[BBC News]]'' included ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'' on its list of the [[BBC list of 100 'most inspiring' novels|100 most influential novels]].<ref name=Bbc2019-11-05/>

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=Bbc2019-11-05>
{{cite news     
| url         = https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50302788
| title       = 100 'most inspiring' novels revealed by BBC Arts
| work        = [[BBC News]]
| date        = 2019-11-05
| archiveurl  = 
| archivedate = 
| accessdate  = 2019-11-10
| quote       = The reveal kickstarts the BBC's year-long celebration of literature.
}}
</ref>
}}

{{Angry young men}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saturday Night And Sunday Morning}}
[[Category:1958 British novels]]
[[Category:Novels about infidelity]]
[[Category:British novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Novels by Alan Sillitoe]]
[[Category:Novels set in Nottingham]]
[[Category:Social realism]]
[[Category:1958 debut novels]]
[[Category:W. H. Allen & Co. books]]