Harold Pinter

by William Baker

Overview

Harold Pinter is one of the most important writers in English of the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century. This brief biography offers fresh insights into his life and work, concentrating on the themes, patterns, relationships, ideas and language common to his life and creative output. Placing Pinter's life and work alongside each other, the study illuminates Pinter's vision of society, politics, gender, sex, violence and human relationships. Drawing upon the full-range of his work, his letters, journalism, and writings about him, Baker combines a biographical approach with close (re)readings of his work to create a fresh perspective on his life and art. The book offers students, academics and readers a rich depiction of Harold Pinter, the man and the writer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826499714
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/08/2008
Series:	Writers Lives
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

William Baker is Trustee Professor, Distinguished Research Professor, Department of English and University Libraries, at Northern Illinois University, USA. He is the author/editor of numerous books and his co-authored Harold Pinter: A Bibliographical History and his The Letters of Wilkie Collins were honoured by Choice as the year's most outstanding books (2006 and 2000).

Table of Contents

Introduction and Acknowledgements
1. Growing Up
2. Ireland, Precarious Existence and Marriage
3. Early Plays
4. Success
5. Turning Points
6. The 1970s and 1980s
7. The 1990s and Beyond: Political Engagement
8. Conclusion: Cancer, The Nobel Prize, Mutations of Mortality, Poetry
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"William Baker's Harold Pinter affords readers with a comprehensive, career-spanning analysis of the Nobel Laureate's life and art. A deft and eminently rewarding exploration of one of postwar literature's great masters, Baker's study will become the standard-bearer for our understanding and enjoyment of Pinter's time-eclipsing work." - Professor Ken Womack, Penn State University, USA

From the Publisher