Harold Pinter.

The lazy Time Out-driven orthodoxy of the past few decades has been that the British cinema has never outgrown its dependence on the stage, and that until we develop a separate cinema culture our films will remain too literary and parochial. In fact, the reverse is the truth - that without the contribution of stage dramatists, actors and directors (Stephen Frears and Mike Leigh, for instance), the British cinema would barely have existed at all. Nobody more perfectly exemplifies the mastery of both media than Harold - who managed during the decade of his greatest fertility in playhouses also to produce the flawless screenplays for Joseph Losey's films of The Servant and Accident.

And finally. It is perhaps the most depressing feature of the powerful democratic movement against the Iraq invasion that no major figures have come out of that movement who have been able to articulate in any powerful way the deep sense of betrayal and anger that has marked this most dangerous and dishonourable of wars. For almost 20 years now, Harold has been - often at considerable personal cost - the most prominent spokesperson in this country for those who are the hapless victims of belligerence and oppression. Like Arundhati Roy, he has worked to begin to redefine the idea of what, in uniquely dangerous times, we may expect an artist to be. In doing so, he has blown fresh air into the musty attic of conventional British literature. We have among us just one writer who is certain to be performed in 50 years, and who may well be performed in 100. But beyond that, he has used his reputation for good. More power to him.

Also in the Guardian, more commentary from the likes of Tom Stoppard, Michael Frayn and so on. And more. Plus a lead editorial and comments from literary editor Robert Crum and this from theater critic Michael Billington: "I would argue that the screenplays not only constitute a significant second canon to the plays, but reveal an even more consistent preoccupation with politics."

Pinter himself also talks with Billington about his own immediate reaction to the news.

More Sunday reading? Ed Champion has put together a "Pinter Grab Bag."

Posted by dwhudson at October 16, 2005 5:36 AM