Posted on 10/17/2005 5:53:00 AM PDT by OESY
Harold Pinter's early writing for the stage was correctly described... as "the theater of the absurd." But it has been left to the selectors of the Nobel in literature to make that definition postmodern and thus to drain it of all irony. Their choice of Mr. Pinter is a selection of absurdity quite detached from drama: a straight and philistine preference for the grotesque. "I have no idea why they gave me the award," said the playwright when the news was brought to him. This justified incredulity showed a brief flash of his old form.
...Just as with the selection of Jimmy Carter for the "Peace" Prize, where the judges chose to emphasize the embarrassment they hoped thereby to visit on the Bush administration, the ludicrous elevation of a third-rate and effectively former dramatist is driven by pseudo-intellectual European hostility to the change of regime in Iraq.
...Let us agree that his early plays -- he has not produced anything worth noticing since the 1960s -- do indeed show an uneasy relationship between the banal and the evil. But let me offer you a stave from a poem he wrote in January 2003, titled "God Bless America": "Here they go again,/ The Yanks in their armored parade/ Chanting their ballads of joy/ As they gallop across the big world/ Praising America's God."
This, and other verses like it, were awarded the Wilfred Owen prize by a group of English judges....
And sinister mediocrity has become Mr. Pinter's stock-in-trade. Is it really believable that a conclave of righteous Scandinavians should have honored a man who said, in loud terms, that the mass murder in New York in September 2001 was a justified "retaliation"?...
Even in his increasingly lame and slovenly literary output, Mr. Pinter always married politicization to illiteracy....
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
"Art, is a Weapon!" V.I. Lenin
But at least Miller was dead before this was all openly admitted. Pinter's true worth is being openly discussed while he is still alive. Must suck.
Nobel Prizes used to be very prestigious. It's sad that (perhaps with the exception of science) they have become rewards for anti-americanism. I would not be surprized if in a few years OBL wins the Peace Prize.
Hey, if Arafat can win it....
Maybe we should invade Sweden next instead of Iran.
""Art is a Weapon!" V.I. Lenin"
I'll say. Pinter's drivel is one of the most painful expereiences a person can undergo.
IE--YUCK!!!! I wish I could remember the name of the novel--but after reading that "work" of Pinter I lost all respect for him. His recent "perspective" on the war in Iraq reveal how much he knows about being a true adult. I think people like Pinter would have us believe it is better to be hiding under the stifling skirts of security than seeking the fresh air of freedom!
That Pinter could even be considered for a Pulitzer shows how out of touch with reality the European intellectual elite has become: they are now living in ivory dung-eons!
Chris Hitchens just gets better and better
He may believe in God after all.
He does but he doesn't know it, yet.
Yeah, but his America hating credentials are all in order.
I just read the transcript of a Hitchen's speech at some university. After his introduction, he thanked his host with the words: "Bless you!"
What's going on here??
Christopher seems to be dipping his toe in the "holy water". Hope springs eternal.
Did you know Chris H is part Jewish? Not that he was brought up Jewish in any way shape or form. CH is a prodigal son.
The book is an excellent short biography of Jefferson. It's an easy read - if you keep a dictionary handy. His style is beautiful, with classic, British intellectual prose.
Hey, a worthy try... this one beat you...
Gut Nacht.
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