Posted on 10/14/2005 9:37:01 PM PDT by FairOpinion
Harold Pinter, Britain's greatest living playwright, is unsure whether the Nobel committee gave him its esteemed prize for literature in part because of his fierce opposition to the US-led war in Iraq.
The Times newspaper also speculated Friday on whether the Swedish Academy had seen Pinter, who wrote his signature works almost half a century ago, as the sharpest stick with which to "poke America in the eye" this year.
Other newspapers merely celebrated the news that the 75-year-old master of the heavy pause had received the 2005 Nobel Prize for literature.
Pinter, who is also well known as an outspoken political campaigner, revealed he only found out he had won the 1.3-million-dollar award about 20 minutes before the official announcement on Thursday.
"They called me and said you're going to receive a call from the chairman of the Nobel committee and I think I said 'why'," he told the Guardian newspaper.
Explaining its decision, the jury said Pinter's work "uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms."
The playwright, who is recovering from a fall a couple of days ago and has a bandage on his forehead, told the BBC that he found this remark interesting. "It implies that they have not only given me this award for my work but for my political engagement, which of course is in my work, I think, anyway to a great extent. You can't divorce one from the other," he said on Thursday night.
The laureate has actively campaigned against the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, notably calling British Prime Minister Tony Blair a "deluded idiot" and US President George W. Bush a "mass murderer".
He agreed that the timing of his award was curious against the backdrop of the daily chaos in Iraq.
The Nobel Prize award committee has become another anti-US bunch.
"The laureate has actively campaigned against the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, notably calling British Prime Minister Tony Blair a "deluded idiot" and US President George W. Bush a "mass murderer".
He agreed that the timing of his award was curious against the backdrop of the daily chaos in Iraq"
Ah yes, but Bill Clinton was a worker for peace. Whoops, I forgot, no mass gaves. Do these people realizr how transparent they are, spouting the same tired lines with no proof?
Outside of the hard sciences, the Noble Prizes are expensive fishing sinkers.
I'm sure it did. Which goes even further to discredit the Nobel prize and the talents of those who win it. I suspect Ben Aflack will be a prime contender for it next year.
The Nobel Prize has become a joke, a political tool to poke in the eye of America. Although Pinter wasn't the first to be used this way.
***Harold Pinter, Britain's greatest living playwright, is unsure whether the Nobel committee gave him its esteemed prize for literature in part because of his fierce opposition to the US-led war in Iraq.****
Well at least he'll have to live wondering if he really won it on merit or not!
For an "artiste" that would be oh so painful.
I don't have a hell of a lot of confidence in their science awards, either. Didn't they give one to a guy who was into global warming research?
They should just name them the anti Bush awards. Number one requirement to win is have you come out and say how much you hate Bush.
I am expecting Galloway or Dean to get it next.
So it dawned on him that it wasn't because of the quality of his writing? Good...now does he have the stones to return the award since it was given under faulty pretenses? Thought not.
Nobel appeasement award
Pinter shouldn't think too much of getting the "Nobel" prise.
They'll give them away like Cracker Jack priszs for anyone who hates America
They gave one to Jimmy Carter For goodness sake...
Have you all tried to read this guys "poetry"??
My sister's cat can write better poetry. EuroMoonbats are an odious lot.
Well, at least he figured out. Not so sweet anymore, huh? That's, I believe, the same feelings that some minorities have when they're awarded a prize, jobs, education, etc. "Did I win this because of my _____?" (insert: gender, ethnicity, or others).
God Bless America
Here they go again,
The Yanks in their armoured parade
Chanting their ballads of joy
As they gallop across the big world
Praising America's God.
The gutters are clogged with the dead
The ones who couldn't join in
The others refusing to sing
The ones who are losing their voice
The ones who've forgotten the tune.
The riders have whips which cut.
Your head rolls onto the sand
Your head is a pool in the dirt
Your head is a stain in the dust
Your eyes have gone out and your nose
Sniffs only the pong of the dead
And all the dead air is alive
With the smell of America's God.
Harold Pinter January 2003
Thats craptacular!
BTW, I love the word "codswallop." I first heard that lilting word in a speech by the great James Randi; and since that day, I'm glad to say, it's certainly come in handy.
There, that's a better poem that anything ever written by Harold Pinter.
He's full of it!
What's the difference between the Nobel prize and an Oscar? I'll have to think about it.
Nobel...glory?
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