11 Comments »

1. I find it quite bizarre that Pinter has been awarded Nobel – a pint of bitter down the local maybe.

   I saw some of his "poetry" recently or rather … his political polemic masquerading as poetry and found it semi-illiterate and infantile. Here’s a sample …

   "The bombs go off/ The legs go off/ The heads go off/ The feet go off/ The light goes out/The heads go off …"

   On and on in this vein and including imagery I will refrain from including on here.

   What’s even worse than the Nobel, is that he was given the Wilfred Owen award. Owen really was a poet, not a political hack with an axe to grind at the expense of the craft.

   Comment by Aidan Maconachy — 16 Oct 2005 on 6:46 am | Link

2. Agreed. Owen was altogether in a better class. But Pinter is/was pretty entertaining in some ways.

   As to the Awards – well that’s a measure of the standards of those making the awards……

   Comment by Chuck Unsworth — 16 Oct 2005 on 8:54 am | Link

3. Sitting in her Hampstead mansion Lady Sir Antonia Fraser (Mrs Lady Sir Harry Potter) must breathe a sigh of aristocratic relief now that she is not the only truly noble personage in her marriage. The news that hubby Harry has been awarded an oscar for his lifetime’s work of rubbishing his dead wives is enough to keep her distracted from her own work – that of writing the life of Mary Queen of Scots (volume 14)- if only for a moment.

   Luvvies throughout the realm will be weeping into their Tesco Chardonnay as they celebrate the knighting of Lady Sir Harold. At long last the author of such lines as: "they don’t like it up ’em,Cap’n Mainwaring," and "Beanz Meanz Heinz" has finally been recognised for the towering imbecile that he is BBC impresario-in-chief, Lady Sir Michael Grade (Lou Grade was just like an uncle to me) said that BBC Channel 23 was keen to revive Sir Harold’s award winning play "Waiting for a Knighthood" to be broadcast in one eleven-hour showing, early in the New Year.

   Adding his own congratulations Mr Blair’s minister for poncy arts programme, Lady Sir Melvyn Tonsils wheezed that he had had that Pinter bloke on the South Bank Show once but he wasn’t half as entertaining as Sir Joan Bakewell had been, you know, that old bint from the Glamourous Grannies are Us arts charity organisation. But there’s no question, said Lord Bragg, that Harold’s work will be remembered for some time.

   Deep in a bunker below Downing Street Tony Blair strummed his Prime Ministers’ Edition Fender Stratocaster: "I’ve been cheated, been mistreated, when will I be Loved?" he wailed, tunelessly. "Cherie" he implored, "when’ll it be my turn for an Oscar? I think its way overdue, don’t you?" "Wanker!" she responded , most ungraciously.

   Above, on Hampstead heath walking his Lurching Burmese Goat-herding dog, Aggamemnon, Lady Sir Harold wondered if maybe the right thing to do was to decline the honour and the hundred grand cheque. But not for long.

   Comment by Tasty Macfadden — 19 Oct 2005 on 6:33 pm | Link

4. your compendium of personal insults directed at harold pinter demonstrates the disgusting and blatant ways in which you continually clothe the truth with lies – a confirmation (as if it were needed) of much of his recent valedictory acceptance speech – the selective ways in which you target the personality of pinter without addressing the content of his critique no longer surprise or anger me – but they do make me sad – so sad – "one day you’ll be in the ditch, blood on your saddle" – after hubris, nemesis must surely follow – so it goes

   Comment by steve halliday — 7 Dec 2005 on 11:52 pm | Link

5. Hey, Bob, good of you to join us. Any more good songs there ?

   Pinter is a pompous licensed fool, A Hampstead poseur, an indifferent playwright and a worse poet. I know, Bob, that we’ll never know the hurt you suffer and all the pain you rise above but don’t add to your weary tune by losing any sleep over Pinter because of one thing you can rest assured he doesn’t give a flying fuck about you.

   I think John F Kennedy said that.

   Comment by Mack the Finger — 8 Dec 2005 on 1:34 am | Link

6. are you morons for real? listen to yourselves. we’re talking about Pinter.

   Comment by steve — 2 Mar 2006 on 6:47 am | Link

7. Before you make such ignorant comments about a playwright who is doubtless one of the greatest of our time, why don’t you do some research and actually learn about the man in question? You may have to go to the library and read a few books, as terrifying as that may sound, but at least you’d have a vague idea what you’re attempting to talk about. The reason Pinter’s works appear to the ignorant eye to be simplified and nothing special is because of the Absurdist techniques he uses. Each of his works does in fact require intense effort and real talent. By breaking down traditions of what is widely considered to be "good" theatre, he is putting on the emphasis on *what* is being said rather than *how* it is being said. He is an excellent playwright who has used his elevated public awareness to make a real difference to the world. I say good for him on winning the Nobel Prize – if only it had come about sooner.

   Comment by Robyn — 23 Apr 2006 on 5:07 pm | Link

8. Before you make such ignorant comments about a playwright who is doubtless one of the greatest of our time, why don’t you do some research and actually learn about the man in question? You may have to go to the library and read a few books, as terrifying as that may sound, but at least you’d have a vague idea what you’re attempting to talk about. The reason Pinter’s works appear to the ignorant eye to be simplified and nothing special is because of the Absurdist techniques he uses. Each of his works does in fact require intense effort and real talent. By breaking down traditions of what is widely considered to be "good" theatre, he is putting on the emphasis on *what* is being said rather than *how* it is being said. He is an excellent playwright who has used his elevated public awareness to make a real difference to the world. I say good for him on winning the Nobel Prize – if only it had come about sooner.

   Comment by Robyn — 23 Apr 2006 on 5:07 pm | Link

9. I had an informal wager that Harold Pinter never did National Service and I won! What I find so foul, mean-minded and avaricious is the fact that he allowed his father to pay the fine, something which must have pleased his puny miserly spirit. If he was a true "conchie" why couldn’t he do hospital work, go down the mines, or other acceptable national service. Oh no, too much like real work, and for an armchair socialist it would have been demeaning to his superior person.
   I find it horrible that he lives in a country and grabs whatever is going and contributes nothing. If he really wants an honour he could always buy one and join the league of cads. However, looking at recent photos, it doesn’t look like he has long on this earth, so maybe it’s not worth while paying out of his own pocket.

   Comment by Anne Wotana Kaye — 5 Feb 2007 on 3:21 pm | Link

10. I had an informal wager that Harold Pinter never did National Service and I won! What I find so foul, mean-minded and avaricious is the fact that he allowed his father to pay the fine, something which must have pleased his puny miserly spirit. If he was a true "conchie" why couldn’t he do hospital work, go down the mines, or other acceptable national service. Oh no, too much like real work, and for an armchair socialist it would have been demeaning to his superior person.
    I find it horrible that he lives in a country and grabs whatever is going and contributes nothing. If he really wants an honour he could always buy one and join the league of cads. However, looking at recent photos, it doesn’t look like he has long on this earth, so maybe it’s not worth while paying out of his own pocket.

    Comment by Anne Wotana Kaye — 5 Feb 2007 on 3:21 pm | Link

11. As a British academic working in Canada I was appalled when Blair decided to sing from the Bush songbook. Whilst I am not much of a Harold Pinter fan in general (I have taught his plays occasionally) and I agree with the comments about his "poetry," (if you want a good war poem that isn’t by Wilfrid Owen or Siegfried Sassoon try "Still Falls the Rain" by Edith Sitwell), I was glad that Pinter spoke out against the war in Iraq. He did it again last night on the Charlie Rose Show on (U.S.)Public Television, discomfiting the host (who is no Bush-lover but is a loyal American)but delighting those who oppose this senseless, oil-driven, business-sponsored war. ANY significant public voice against this atrocity has my vote: if Harold Pinter is on the same side as people like Sir Joseph Rotblat and other great minds, then he gets my approbation, which in the grand scheme of things isn’t worth much, but there it is. DOWN WITH BUSH!! DOWN WITH U.S. LAPDOGS!!

    Comment by John Butler — 2 Mar 2007 on 6:58 pm | Link

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