Alan Sillitoe, A Tree on Fire

Nicolas Tredell (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1967

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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A Tree on Fire

(1967) is Alan Sillitoe’s fifth novel and the second in the trilogy inaugurated by his previous novel,

The Death of William Posters

(1965). The “William Posters” of the first volume’s title is a more formal version of “Bill Posters”, the figure of urban myth generated from one of the standard formulations on notices designed to deter fly-posting, “Bill Posters will be prosecuted”. “William Posters”, always hunted though always elusive, functions in the first novel of the trilogy as a symbol of working-class servitude. In that novel, Frank Dawley, eager to kill the “William Posters” within himself, leaves his wife, two young children and a factory job in Nottingham and, after a series of adventures in Lincolnshire and London, reaches Morocco…

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1981 words

Citation: Tredell, Nicolas. "A Tree on Fire". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 October 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14276, accessed 24 April 2024.]

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