SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING

“Don’t let the bastards grind you down!” is Arthur Seaton’s mantra as he works over a hot metal lathe in a huge Nottingham factory. He looks at the worn-out, humbled older men, “ground down before the war,” and wants nothing like that for his life. Instead, on Saturday nights he puts on his suit and tie, slicks back his long hair, and smiles at his smooth face, not a handsome one, but almost pretty in a loutish way. Off he goes to a night of boozing in the pubs and bedding the wife of another factory worker. Arthur knows no shame and grabs life where he can find it, regardless of how he affects others. But then he meets Doreen, a beautiful young woman, who has aspirations for better things and thinks she can achieve them with Arthur. -- Chale Nafus