Nobel Prize in Literature


playwright Harold Pinter

I like him - do you ?

I only ever read his betrayal. I thought it was absolutely stunning. I just saw he also writes poetry, will have to have a look at it.

[www.haroldpinter.org]

I think that one of the first live plays I ever saw, as a small child, was a production of The Birthday Party (while my friends were seeing Disney cartoons!). It opened up a later interest in theatre of the absurd, that whole nihilism thing, and prompted an interest in similar writers like Ionesco, Beckett and Genet.

I haven't read Pinter in a while - must did out some books.

rikki

(p.s. a bit of trivia - singer/writer Nick Cave named his '80's band The Birthday Party after Pinter's play)

His plays do nothing for me, I'm afraid - and I'd never seen his poetry till I followed the link. However, I'm very impressed by two of the three there. I must find some more.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2005 03:59AM by marian2.

The backwards Seinfeld episode (The Betrayal) is a tribute to his play of the same name.

One of the characters in that episode is named Pinter

you bet. a maker of thought. a provocateur. witness for the absurd. tough cookie.

To me, Pinter's plays prove there's truth to the law of diminishing return. If you've never read or seen any of them, choose one (which one doesn't matter) and you will most likely be impressed. Choose a second and you will no doubt enjoy it, but not as much as the first, and so on, until you've pretty much had it with their starkness. His prize is no doubt deserved, however, because his plays have raised social consciousness over the years while stimulating thought and intellectual debate.

JoeT