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Nobel prize in literature

Zolipara

Zolipara

New Member
This years nobel prize was awarded the british author Harold Pinter.
Here you can read why the prize was awarded to him.

I must confess i have never read anything by him or seen any of his plays. The only thing i have seen is "The french lieutenant's woman" in which he wrote the screenplay.
 
I really didn't expected him to win the Nobel Price, i'd rather say it would be offered to Pamuk (the writer of "Snow"). But i am happy he got it :)

A couple of years ago I read two of the comedies by pinter, "the caretaker" and "the birthday party" and i liked them both for the vague resemblance to Beckett (whom i love very much!) and to Kafka (whom I really adore!!), and for themes he deals with: he talks about the identy and its meaning for the human beings, he tells us about the senseless cruelty of our world (very up to date!). in his works it's easy to find reflections about the existential anxiety which torment men, always.

(please excuse my way of writing, just learning english :p )

Celeste
 
My first introduction to Pinter was back in eighth grade when I saw his play "The Birthday Party" on TV. It was in black and white and a very bare bones production - just the characters on an almost empty set. It was the first time I realized how powerful a well-written, well-acted play could be. I've had a soft spot for Pinter ever since.

ps. Zolipara, I can't get your link to work.

ell
 
I'm afraid that the Swedish Academy has made a serious mistake once again. In the near future I'm going to buy some of his plays just to see what he's like, but I sincerely doubt that he's better than Ian McEwan, Amos Oz, Salman Rushdie, Mario Vargas Llosa, Paul Auster, Martin Amis, Umberto Eco, John Updike, etc, all of which have not yet been awarded the prize. Then again, neither has James Joyce, Graham Greene, Karen Blixen, Arthur Miller or Jorge Luis Borges.

I went to Mr.Pinter's website, and my first impression of him is that he's extremely anti-american. Here's a poem by him, possibly the worst poem I've ever read by a Nobel Laureate:

http://www.haroldpinter.org/poetry/poetry_football.shtml
 
Seems they changed the link. I'd update my post but sadly we are not allowed to do that anymore. Anyway look here instead.
 
Morty said:
I'm afraid that the Swedish Academy has made a serious mistake once again. In the near future I'm going to buy some of his plays just to see what he's like, but I sincerely doubt that he's better than Ian McEwan, Amos Oz, Salman Rushdie, Mario Vargas Llosa, Paul Auster, Martin Amis, Umberto Eco, John Updike, etc, all of which have not yet been awarded the prize.
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If you haven't read any of his plays when you may not be in the best position to judge whether a 'serious mistake' has been made in picking him over others.

Morty said:
I went to Mr.Pinter's website, and my first impression of him is that he's extremely anti-american.
Click to expand...
He's a vocally political writer, and his selection, rightly or wrongly, may come to be seen as a political one too. That would be a shame as a judgement should be made on literary merits only.

BTW, a list of previous winners and the 'rules of selection' can be found in this thread.
 
Yes, let's not fall into the trap of referring to sentiments which are anti-Bush or anti-neocons as 'anti-American.' On that basis approximately half of Americans are anti-American.

But some of his recent poetry really is not very good. The Guardian newspaper in the UK publishes each of his new poems with a fanfare and in huge print (because they're often only a few lines long) as though we should be grateful for this manna. Like this:

Democracy

There's no escape.
The big pricks are out.
They'll **** everything in sight.
Watch your back.
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Still, as others have said, his early plays anyway are very powerful and his work was so distinctive that it even earned its own adjective, Pinteresque. I say 'was' because he's now given up plays and concentrates solely on his poetry. Lucky us.

As to whether he's 'better' than Updike, Oz, etc. Morty, well, the Academy can't give the award to everyone at once. Besides, as you say, it's no unarguable measure of literary greatness as more great writers have been omitted by the Academy than included. In the English language I have often found the Nobel's choice of laureates to tend toward the impenetrable: William Golding, say, or Beckett. Those crazy Swedes, eh!
 
As shade said, there is only one person pr year that can get this award. There are more good writers than awards so naturally not everyone will get it. Everyone probably has their own personal favourite that "deserved it more", but nothing can be done about that.

Anyway, i dont usually like to read plays but i was thinking of reading one of Pinters. What would you recommend?
 
Kenny Shovel, if you'd read more thoroughly my post you'd have noticed that I am in fact going to buy his plays and put myself in a position from where I'm entitled to judge him. Perhaps you, too, should read carefully before you pass judgment?

What I dislike about his politics from what I've seen on his website is his deadlocked mental state. He seems the type who "owns the truth", rather than one who seeks the truth. His comments on Rumsfeld and Bush are bitter, aggressive and is there not something completely unfair about attacking someone's persona when you've never met them? Politics, fine, but personality? His reference to America as a "wild and blood thirsty animal" is ridiculous. If indeed he does "own the truth" he's committed artistic suicide.

He'd better be one hell of playwright.

Shade, I do realize the Swedish Academy cannot give a prize to everyone at once, but does that justify not awarding any of the authors I've mentioned?

But perhaps I'm making too much a fuss. After all, the Swedish Academy has made huge mistakes in the past: James Joyce, Graham Greene, Jorge Luis Borges, Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen), Arthur Miller, etc were never awarded the prize.
 
Prairie_Girl said:
I've not only never read anything by him, I've never heard of him. I feel stupid now.
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Don't. I had heard of him, but knew nothing other than his status as a playwright. I don't care for poetry or for reading plays by myself, so I've never bothered with him either. Nobody should be expected to have read, or even know of, every great writer ever born.
 
Morty said:
Kenny Shovel, if you'd read more thoroughly my post you'd have noticed that I am in fact going to buy his plays and put myself in a position from where I'm entitled to judge him. Perhaps you, too, should read carefully before you pass judgment?
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I noticed you were going to buy his plays which was why I quoted that part of your message. However by saying "I'm afraid that the Swedish Academy has made a serious mistake once again" rather than "I'm afraid that the Swedish Academy may have made a serious mistake once again" you gave the impression that your mind was already made up on the matter.

Regards,

K-S
 
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