Complete Works: Volume 3

Complete Works #3

by Harold Pinter

This is the third volume of the collected works of Harold Pinter, who is regarded by many as the foremost playwright in the English language today. Featured are The Homecoming, one of Pinter's best-known works, along with three other plays, six revue sketches, and a short story. The memoir Mac introduces the volume. Pinter's work during this period clearly displays his developing interest in a number of themes, particularly those having to do with power, communication, personal identity, and the unreliability of memory and knowledge. The Homecoming was described by Richard Gilman as "a brilliant piece of writing," and is considered one of modern drama's most effective presentations of these concerns.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre, Short Stories, 20th Century, British Literature, Fiction

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Harold Pinter was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party (1957), The Homecoming (1964) and Betrayal (1978), each of which he adapted for the screen. His screenplay adaptations of others' works include The Servant (1963), The Go-Between (1971), The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), The Trial (1993) and Sleuth (2007). He also directed or acted in radio, stage, television and film productions of his own and others' works.

Reviews

[William2]

Read “The Homecoming” - Shattering…!

[Mar Beveridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harold Pinter is a genius. I cannot describe how immersed I get when I read his plays. I never thought I would enjoy reading plays but this has definitely proved me wrong. Although I didn't love all the plays (I did like them all, but there were some less successful ones in my eyes), my standouts for this anthology were The Homecoming and Tea Party.

[Aleksandr Rubtsov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read 'The Homecoming" only, but certainly am going to return to Pinter in the future, for the man is even better (a lot) than I expected him to be.

[alex caban-echevarria]

read: the homecoming 🏠 watched: the homecoming (1973)

[Katra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't like Pinter. I know I don't like Pinter. Why did I commit to reading this?

[Jobie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The later his plays and sketches are the less I seem to enjoy them. They usually revolves around men in their 40s and 50s and women in their 20s. I don't connect with them or what they want or what they are.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't get it. I read the profile of Pinter in the new yorker; I read Pinter's Nobel essay (loved it) and so I decided to read his stuff. Admittedly, I don't read a lot of plays, but I just don't feel anything when reading this stuff. I got through the Homecoming, the Tea Party, Basement and Landscape and I just don't feel any attraction to the language or what is going on.

All that despite the fact that I love the opening sentence of the Homecoming; but it was all downhill from there for me.

[ifjuly · Rating 4 out of 5]

i loved the short sketch work bits of the second half. made pinter honest yet "romantic," gave him a softer edge after the harsh bizarre wtf elements that distinguish the homecoming (which was my into to him a few years back). it sort of broke my heart actually.

[K]

The Homecoming, wow.