Harold Pinter, Nobel-Winning Playwright, Dies at 78

Britains have lost an eye. But, this death of an eye has seeds for countless better more. That's the beauty of the death, which is merely completion of a cycle, a Sufi observes. Pinter is not a small name in Britain. In fact, he has become of symbol of his own kind. "The adjective Pinteresque has become part of the cultural vocabulary as a byword for strong and unspecified menace." Pinter, who had been under influence of Samuel Beckett (another British novelist, famous for Waiting for the Godot), in his famous novels and dramas, works like "The Birthday Party," "The Caretaker," "The Homecoming" and "Betrayal" - 'captured the anxiety and ambiguity of life in the second half of the 20Th century with terse, hypnotic dialogue filled with gaping pauses and the prospect of imminent violence.'

Apart from being an actor, essayist, screenwriter, poet and director as well as a dramatist and writer of 30 plays, Mr. Pinter had strong 'anti-right wing military dictatorship' political views. "He used his Nobel acceptance speech to denounce American foreign policy, saying that the United States had not only lied to justify waging war against Iraq but that it had also 'supported and in many cases engendered every right-wing military dictatorship' in the last 50 years." Thus, he had been tried uselessly public 'censorship and repression', and as the phrase goes, but in no vain.

Pinter died of cancer. He received Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005, but he already came to know of his cancer disease 2002. So much so that he 'delivered an acceptance speech from a wheelchair in a recorded video' on receiving the Nobel Prize.

Read more about Pinter, life and works. (Source Here)