Iraq war critic wins Nobel Prize for Literature
By Ramsay Short
Daily Star staff
Friday, October 14, 2005
BEIRUT: In the end the winner surprised everyone. Harold Pinter, the British playwright and fierce critic of the Iraq War, of Israel and that nation's treatment of Palestinians, took the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature ahead of the bookmaker's favorites - Syrian poet Adonis and Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk.
The Swedish Academy, which has awarded the prize since 1901, said Pinter, whose plays include "The Birthday Party," "The Dumb Waiter," and his breakthrough "The Caretaker," was a writer who "uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms" and is the foremost representative of drama in post-war Britain.
Pinter, who has just turned 75, was born in the London borough of Hackney, the son of a Jewish dressmaker. During his youth he experienced anti-Semitism, which had been important in his decision to become a dramatist.
Very much a liberal, in recent years he has been a virulent detractor of the British and American-led war on Iraq, and a consistent literary thorn in the side of Premier Tony Blair.
The Nobel jury added Pinter - who even has his own adjective, Pinteresque, which is used to describe a particular atmosphere and environment in drama - had "restored theater to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue where people are at the mercy of each other and pretense crumbles."
Adonis (real name Ali Ahmad Said), who fled Lebanon in the 1980s and now lives in Paris, had been the best guess to win the prize among Nobel watchers with the online betting Web site Ladbrokes giving him odds of 7-4.
The fiction writer, Pamuk, whose last novel "Snow" received huge acclaim worldwide, followed close behind Adonis. Pamuk is facing prison in Turkey after he was charged with insulting Turkish identity for supporting Armenian claims that they were the victims of genocide under the Ottomans in 1915.
Earlier this year Pinter famously called the war in Iraq, "a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law [and] an arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public." He also said it was "an act intended to consolidate American military and economic control of the Middle East masquerading - as a last resort (all other justifications having failed to justify themselves) - as liberation."
The Academy, founded in 1786 by King Gustav III to advance the Swedish language and its literature, is made up of several writers as well as linguists, literary scholars, historians and a lawyer, all of whom serve for life.
Pinter and other Nobel prize winners will receive their awards, on December 10 at a ceremony in Stockholm. The playwright will take home $1.3 million.
Link Here
Daily Star staff
Friday, October 14, 2005
BEIRUT: In the end the winner surprised everyone. Harold Pinter, the British playwright and fierce critic of the Iraq War, of Israel and that nation's treatment of Palestinians, took the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature ahead of the bookmaker's favorites - Syrian poet Adonis and Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk.
The Swedish Academy, which has awarded the prize since 1901, said Pinter, whose plays include "The Birthday Party," "The Dumb Waiter," and his breakthrough "The Caretaker," was a writer who "uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms" and is the foremost representative of drama in post-war Britain.
Pinter, who has just turned 75, was born in the London borough of Hackney, the son of a Jewish dressmaker. During his youth he experienced anti-Semitism, which had been important in his decision to become a dramatist.
Very much a liberal, in recent years he has been a virulent detractor of the British and American-led war on Iraq, and a consistent literary thorn in the side of Premier Tony Blair.
The Nobel jury added Pinter - who even has his own adjective, Pinteresque, which is used to describe a particular atmosphere and environment in drama - had "restored theater to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue where people are at the mercy of each other and pretense crumbles."
Adonis (real name Ali Ahmad Said), who fled Lebanon in the 1980s and now lives in Paris, had been the best guess to win the prize among Nobel watchers with the online betting Web site Ladbrokes giving him odds of 7-4.
The fiction writer, Pamuk, whose last novel "Snow" received huge acclaim worldwide, followed close behind Adonis. Pamuk is facing prison in Turkey after he was charged with insulting Turkish identity for supporting Armenian claims that they were the victims of genocide under the Ottomans in 1915.
Earlier this year Pinter famously called the war in Iraq, "a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law [and] an arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public." He also said it was "an act intended to consolidate American military and economic control of the Middle East masquerading - as a last resort (all other justifications having failed to justify themselves) - as liberation."
The Academy, founded in 1786 by King Gustav III to advance the Swedish language and its literature, is made up of several writers as well as linguists, literary scholars, historians and a lawyer, all of whom serve for life.
Pinter and other Nobel prize winners will receive their awards, on December 10 at a ceremony in Stockholm. The playwright will take home $1.3 million.
Link Here
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