British-Jewish playwright Harold Pinter expressed his astonishment after he was awarded the Nobel literary prize by the Swedish Academy on Thursday.
Pinter, 75, grew up in the East end of London in a Jewish family. His father was a tailor for women.
He came to fame in the 1950s and 60s with a series of succesful plays including The Room, The Dumb Waiter, The Homecoming and The Caretaker.
He has often cited the anti-Semitic taunts he suffered as a youngster as causing him to become a dramatist.
Announcing the decision, Academy Permanent Secretary, Horace Engdahl said Pinter is a writer “who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms".
Complete surprise
Speaking to the Nobel Prize website, Pinter said he was totally surprised that he was receiving the award.
“I’ve been absolutely speechless. I’m overwhelmed by the news, very deeply moved by the news. But I can’t really articulate what I feel.
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Harold Pinter (second left) as Macbeth.
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“There’s nothing more I can say, except that I am deeply moved; and, as I say, I have no words at the moment. I shall have words by the time I get to Stockholm. And later, the writer told the Guardian of his pride at the award. “When I think back to past winners of the Nobel prize I feel I'm in remarkable company. I never thought this would happen to me.”
Pinter said that he is looking forward to travelling to Stockholm for the presentation of the prize on 10 December as it will give him the opportunity to make a lengthy speech.
He said: “I'm told I am required to make a 45-minute speech which is the longest speech I will ever have made. Of course, I intend to say whatever it is I think. I may well address the state of the world. I'll be interested myself to find out how I'm going to articulate the whole thing.”
British representative
In an official statement, The Academy said that Pinter “is generally seen as the foremost representative of British drama in the second half of the 20th century.”
“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’,” the statement added.
The Academy praised the writer for restoring theatre to its basic elements “with a minimum of plot, drama emerges from the power struggle and hide-and-seek of interlocution.”
 I think he is one of the writers who has significantly stayed true to himself. When in the 80s and 90s his writings started to have political writings it was still Pinter
Horace Engdahl, Academy Permanent Secretary |
In an interview with the Nobel website, Engdahl said: “In England critics have tended to regard him as the inventor of a new genre, what they call the comedy of menace. He is one of the most interesting psychological playwrights of our time. He is a marvelous director. He knows the theatre inside out.”
In recent years Pinter has become more political, speaking out against the war in Iraq and against oppression.
But Engdahl said he believed that Pinter’s writing remained significant. “I think he is one of the writers who has significantly stayed true to himself. When in the 80s and 90s his writings started to have political writings it was still Pinter,” he said.
Among former British laureates of the Nobel for literature are Rudyard Kipling (1907), Sir Winston Churchill (1953) and V.S. Naipaul (2001).