This article considers the novel Life Goes On, by Alan Sillitoe, as a
self-conscious parody of his previous work. The self-conscious dimension of this novel is apparent not only in narrative style but also in the
relations between writer, characters and reader, and in the social
circumstances of the heroes. Sillitoe also explores the limits and
examines the conventions of the novel as a genre. It is concluded that
Life Goes On achieves the state of self-parody by means of a well
studied ironic strategy that shapes the structure of the novel.
