Harold Pinter

Author profile

born

October 10, 1930 in Hackney, London, England, The United Kingdom

died

December 24, 2008

gender

male

website

http://www.haroldpinter.org

genre

Literature & Fiction, Theater

influences

Samuel Beckett, Luis Buñuel, Franz Kafka, Wilfred Owen, Marcel Proust,...more

About this author

edit data

Harold Pinter, CH, CBE, was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor, director, political activist and poet. He was one of the most influential playwrights of modern times. In 2005 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

After publishing poetry and acting in school plays as a teenager in London, Pinter began his professional theatrical career in 1951, touring throughout Ireland. From 1952, he acted in repertory companies throughout England for about a dozen years, using the stage name David Baron in the late 1950s. Beginning with his first play, The Room (1957), Pinter's writing career spanned over 50 years and produced 29 original stage plays, 27 screenplays, many dramatic sketches, radio and TV plays, poetry, one novel, short fict...more Harold Pinter, CH, CBE, was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor, director, political activist and poet. He was one of the most influential playwrights of modern times. In 2005 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

After publishing poetry and acting in school plays as a teenager in London, Pinter began his professional theatrical career in 1951, touring throughout Ireland. From 1952, he acted in repertory companies throughout England for about a dozen years, using the stage name David Baron in the late 1950s. Beginning with his first play, The Room (1957), Pinter's writing career spanned over 50 years and produced 29 original stage plays, 27 screenplays, many dramatic sketches, radio and TV plays, poetry, one novel, short fiction, essays, speeches, and letters. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party (1957), The Caretaker (1959), The Homecoming (1964), and Betrayal (1978), each of which he adapted to film. His screenplay adaptations of others' works include The Servant (1963), The Go-Between (1970), The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), The Trial (1993), and Sleuth (2007). He directed almost 50 stage, television, and film productions and acted extensively in radio, stage, television, and film productions of his own and others' works. Despite frail health after being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in December 2001, Pinter continued to act on stage and screen, last performing the title role in a critically-acclaimed stage production of Samuel Beckett's one-act monologue Krapp's Last Tape, for the 50th anniversary season of the Royal Court Theatre, in October 2006.

Pinter's dramas often involve strong conflicts among ambivalent characters who struggle for verbal and territorial dominance and for their own versions of the past. Stylistically, these works are marked by theatrical pauses and silences, comedic timing, irony, and menace. Thematically ambiguous, they raise complex issues of individual identity oppressed by social forces, language, and vicissitudes of memory. In 1981, Pinter stated that he was not inclined to write plays explicitly about political subjects; yet in the mid-1980s he began writing overtly political plays, reflecting his own heightening political interests and changes in his personal life. This "new direction" in his work and his left-wing political activism stimulated additional critical debate about Pinter's politics. Pinter, his work, and his politics have been the subject of voluminous critical commentary.

Pinter received numerous awards. In addition to the Nobel Prize, he received the Tony Award for Best Play in 1967 for The Homecoming. He was given BAFTA awards, the French Légion d'honneur and 20 honorary degrees. Festivals and symposia have been devoted to him and his work. In awarding the Nobel Prize, the Swedish Academy noted, "That he occupies a position as a modern classic is illustrated by his name entering the language as an adjective used to describe a particular atmosphere and environment in drama: 'Pinteresque'". He died from liver cancer on 24 December 2008. He was buried the following week at Kensal Green Cemetery in North West London.
(less)

combine editions
Books by Harold Pinter

Average rating: 3.80 · 7,850 ratings · 414 reviews · 124 distinct works

	The Homecoming 3.71 avg rating — 1,678 ratings — published 1965 — 8 editions	My rating:
	The Birthday Party 3.72 avg rating — 1,363 ratings — published 1957 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Betrayal 3.98 avg rating — 1,228 ratings — published 1978 — 8 editions	My rating:
	The Dumb Waiter 3.74 avg rating — 552 ratings — 4 editions	My rating:
	The Caretaker 3.55 avg rating — 465 ratings — published 1961 — 8 editions	My rating:
	The Birthday Party & The Room 3.92 avg rating — 314 ratings — published 1961 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Complete Works, Vol. 1: The Birthday Party / The Room / The Dumb Waiter / A Slight Ache / A Night Out / The Black and White / The Examination 4.21 avg rating — 209 ratings — published 1976 — 7 editions	My rating:
	The Caretaker & The Dumb Waiter 3.78 avg rating — 194 ratings — published 1960 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Old Times 3.86 avg rating — 195 ratings — published 1971 — 8 editions	My rating:
	Complete Works, Vol. 2: The Caretaker / The Dwarfs / The Collection / The Lover / Night School / Revue Sketches 4.27 avg rating — 122 ratings — 2 editions	My rating:

More books by Harold Pinter…

Series by Harold Pinter

Complete Works (2 books)
by Harold Pinter

4.23 avg rating — 331 ratings

Quotes by Harold Pinter

“There are some things one remembers even though they may never have happened.”
― Harold Pinter

tags: false , falsehood , memory , recollection , truth

229 people liked it

“I know the place.
It is true.
Everything we do
Corrects the space
Between death and me
And you.”
― Harold Pinter

tags: poetry

23 people liked it

“One way of looking at speech is to say that it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness.”
― Harold Pinter

tags: life

18 people liked it

See all Harold Pinter's quotes »

Polls

Who is the worst one of these incredibly bad authors?

Elfriede Jelinek

4 votes, 36.4%

Herta Müller

3 votes, 27.3%

Dario Fo

3 votes, 27.3%

Gao Xingjian

1 vote, 9.1%

Harold Pinter

0 votes, 0.0%

11 total votes

8 comments

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Nobel Prize Winners: Next Group Read from April 17th	12	24	Apr 02, 2011 11:27am
The 104 Book Chal...: Elizabeth's Book List	97	59	Dec 27, 2011 03:44pm
Challenge: 50 Books: Lauli's reads in 2011	58	55	Dec 31, 2011 03:12pm
Bookish: Alex's Play of the Month	99	54	Jan 09, 2012 07:23am
Exceptional Books: Top 100 Stage Plays of All Time	58	139	Feb 21, 2012 12:39am
The Next Best Boo...: Author Alphabet	3426	2597	May 27, 2012 11:59am
The Book Addicts!: Currently Reading	7315	4189	May 28, 2012 02:41pm
The Next Best Boo...: * What are you reading?	28595	26806	33 minutes ago

More…

Add New
Videos

Harold's Fans (106)

Harold Pinter

Author profile

combine editions
Books by Harold Pinter

Series by Harold Pinter

Quotes by Harold Pinter

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add NewVideos

Harold's Fans (106)

Harold Pinter

Author profile

combine editionsBooks by Harold Pinter

Series by Harold Pinter

Quotes by Harold Pinter

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add New
Videos

combine editions
Books by Harold Pinter