Comments on: Harold Pinter Wins Nobel Prize

By: darkcoffee

darkcoffee — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 03:26:44 +0000

Pinter is a great writer. The award was political. Naipaul’s was too — he caught the brief moment of pro-western-civilization sentiment after 9/11. Having served on a couple of committees to award them, I’ve come to suspect that most literary prizes are jokes, one way or another. Unfortunately, they influence sales, so writers often make fools of themselves over them. Discerning readers should take them with a grain of salt.

By: Yehudit

Yehudit — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 15:44:01 +0000

I have been moved by every Pinter play I have seen.

I was recently informed that my favorite poet, Sharon Olds, made some extremely moonbatty gesture with regard to some poetry event at the White House she was invited to.

This prompted a flurry of sneering comments about her on an email list. Only one of the commenters had actually read any of her work.

The anti-antiwar crowd can be just as kneejerk as the antiwar crowd.

It does give me pause when someone whose art I respect becomes a raving victim of BDS; I can never look at their work quite the same way again. but the alternative is art subsumed to the political fashions of the day, and we see enough of that on the Left.

By: scott

scott — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 14:32:26 +0000

Yes,Roger,compared to some of the 2 bit(adjusted for inflation)non entities who have won in the past few years,I could go along with Pinter.But then I think of Mario Vargas Llosa,the late Robertson Davies,or even Jorge Amado,and I cringe.

By: Esbiem

Esbiem — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 14:31:40 +0000

Elgin just turned to me while reading this post and wondered if “The Dumb Waiter” is the same story as the short film, starring comedian Steve Martin, that we saw at Indiana University while Martin was touring in the late 70’s.

By: Fausta

Fausta — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 14:03:21 +0000

I appreciate Roger's point, he is unquestionably one of the great playwrights of the second half of the Twentieth Century, in my estimation the most important since Samuel Beckett; however, since Pinter himself has thrown the playwright towel, and the Nobel is awarded to living writers alone, I'd prefer that the award were given to a writer who is currently producing literature.

By: Patrick Tyson

Patrick Tyson — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 05:28:57 +0000

Eight months ago, when Arthur Miller died, I wrote:

My favorite living playwright has been Tom Stoppard since whenever it was that I first saw The Real Thing.

That being affirmed, I think Harold Pinter in 2005…

“who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression’s closed rooms”

…an excellent (and unexpected even given his politics) choice.

A few of the many winners of note…

“for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values”

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill in 1953

“for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy”

Eugene Gladstone O’Neill in 1936

“for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation”

William Butler Yeats in 1923

“for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times”

Albert Camus in 1957

“for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature”

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn in 1970

“for his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life”

Isaac Bashevis Singer in 1978

“who with uncompromising clear-sightedness voices man’s exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts”

Czeslaw Milosz in 1980

The list…

http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/index.html

By: Luther McLeod

Luther McLeod — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 03:36:00 +0000

I agree with MeTooThen. But in my naivet頭ust ask, just how do we separate the personal from the political? I am rusty on the Nobel, is it for lifetime achievement or a particular period or work?

By: MeTooThen

MeTooThen — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 03:28:27 +0000

Roger,

Years ago (maybe 20 or so) I had the pleasure of seeing “The Birthday Party” and last year I saw “The Caretaker” on Broadway.

Wow.

Really.

And yes, Mr. Pinter’s recent political ravings are excrable, worse than that actually.

Such a pity, this.

As Mr. Pinter may actually deserve the Nobel Prize for his writing, I think (as do many) that he received it at this time for his vitriol directed at the United States.

Now you may disagree with that formulation, but it is becomming increasingly hard to refute.

What a totally f*d-up world in which we live.

Sigh.