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Harold Pinter and the Twilight of Modernism
The Frankfurt School's discourse on modernism has seldom been linked to contemporary drama, though the questions of aesthetics and politics explored by T.W. Adorno and others seem especially germane to the plays of Harold Pinter, which span high and low cultural forms and move freely from hermetic modernism to political engagement. Examining plays from 1958 to 1996, Varun Begley'sHarold Pinter and the Twilight of Modernismargues that Pinter's work simultaneously embodies the modernist principle of negation and the more fluid aesthetics of the postmodern.
Pinter is arguably one of the most popular and perplexing of modern dramatists writing in English. His plays prefigured, then chronicled, the crumbling divide between modernism and its historical 'others:' popular entertainment, politically committed art, and technological mass culture. Begley sheds new light on Pinter's work by applying the methods and problems of cultural studies discourse. Viewing his plays as a series of responses to fundamental aesthetic and political questions within modernism, Begley argues that, collectively, they narrate a prehistory of the postmodern.
eBook
Harold Pinter's The dumb waiter
This collection of essays focuses on one of Harold Pinter's most popular and challenging plays, The Dumb Waiter, while addressing also a range of significant issues current in Pinter studies and which are applicable beyond this play. The interesting and provocative dialogues between established and emerging scholars featured here provide close readings of The Dumb Waiter, within relevant cultural and historical contexts and from a range of theoretical perspectives. The essays range over issues of autobiography and theater, genre studies, and the impact of Pinter's political activism on his dramatic production, among others. The collection is also concerned with the meaning of the play when assessed against other example's of Pinter's work, both dramatic and non-dramatic writing. Each contributor shows a gift for presenting a complex argument in an accessible style, making this book an important resource for a wide range of readers, from undergraduates to postgraduates and specialist researchers. The collection offers essays that approach The Dumb Waiter, from an interdisciplinary perspective and as both a literary and dramatic text. Thus, the book should be of equal significance to those encountering Pinter within the context of English Studies, drama, and performance.
eBook
The Pinter Ethic
First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Penelope Prentice is Professor of English at D'Youville College. She is an award-winning poet and playwright whose works include Thriller, Michael Tyro, and How to Seduce Your Husband.
eBook
Gothic Spaces in Pinter's The Room and The Birthday Party
One obvious preoccupation both Theatre of the Absurd and Gothic Studies share is their responsiveness to the inner workings of the human mind; another is that both exhibit tendencies of repressed emotions and individual experiences by capturing social dysfunctions. These psychoanalytical underpinnings are the defining traits of both gothic fiction and absurdist literature. Using qualitative research methods and close textual analysis, this article unfolds the painful social layers of Harold Pinter's plays. The repressed fears, deep-seated anxieties, and behavioral imbalances resulting from a claustrophobic atmosphere, often a room or a damp chamber, texture their world. To do this, a close textual reading approach is adopted. The theoretical grid for the article is Freud's theory of Uncanny and his concept of Unhomely. Also, the plays have been approached through Vidler's (1992) idea of Architectural Uncanny. Although the amount of scholarship available is fertile, no exhaustive study of Pinter's plays has been conducted from this perspective. The study is unique in that Pinter's works have not been previously analyzed through the critical lens of gothic theories. The article's main argument is that the motifs, tropes, and trappings that are scattered throughout the body of Pinter's dramatic works evoke a strong image of a dark Gothic world characterized by excessive anxiety and frustration. The article explores the effect of the uncanny produced through such psychological and social derangement and, from the gothic perspective, examines how Pinter's dramaturgy conjures up the terrifying psyches of the characters. The gothic analysis shows how the characters in an absurdist play take defensive positions and strategies against the social world. The article further interlinks gothic terror psyches and fears to highlight the ensuing sense of displacement characters feel in the light of the theory of uncanny and homely. This article analyzes three early plays of Pinter: The Room, The Birthday Party, and The Caretaker. Gothicity in Pinter's plays emerges as a strong impulse, a driving force through which Pinter puts across the social invasion, oppression, injustice, and individual freedom.
Journal Article
Freedom as a Mirage: Sexual Commodification in Harold Pinter's Films
Luce Irigaray's mimesis is a political action born out of the recognition that
women's position in society is based upon the ideal image of masculinity. It is,
thus, a strategy that aims to articulate the specific position of women within
the phallocentric culture in order to destabilize the foundations of this
culture. Three of Harold Pinter's film adaptations— Accident
(1967), The Go-Between (1971), and Betrayal
(1983)—portray women in intricate relationships with men; consequently, the
women are seen by some critics as liberated, yet ultimately, they are
commodified. When it comes to the institution of marriage, Irigaray's mimesis
theory together with a broad-spectrum feminist critique, see this “liberation”
as a mirage.
Journal Article