Pinter, Harold
Pinter, Harold ( 1930 – ),poet and playwright, born in east London, the son of a Jewish tailor, and educated at Hackney Downs Grammar School. He began to publish poetry in periodicals before he was 20, then became a professional actor, working mainly in repertory. His first play, The Room, was performed in Bristol in 1957 , followed in 1958 by a London production of The Birthday Party, in which Stanley, an out-of-work pianist in a seaside boarding house, is mysteriously threatened and taken over by two intruders, an Irishman and a Jew, who present him with a Kafkaesque indictment of unexplained crimes. Pinter's distinctive voice was soon recognized, and many critical and commercial successes followed, including The Caretaker ( 1960 ), The Lover ( 1963 ), The Homecoming ( 1965 ), Old Times ( 1971 ), and No Man's Land ( 1975 ). Betrayal ( 1978 ; film, 1982 )...
[The entire page is 340 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
