A Holistic Perspective on Harold Pinter's Drama

Book excerpt: This book provides a holistic approach to Harold Pinter’s plays, from his first play, The Room (1957), to his last play, Celebration (1999). The book is divided into three chapters, organized thematically. The first chapter discusses the early plays—the so-called comedies of menace—concerning the central tropes of secluded settings, intrusion from the outside, and disintegration of the self. The next chapter analyzes Pinter’s memory plays, concentrating on how characters shelter themselves from intrusions through silences and lies. The third chapter examines power games and abuse of power in political plays. The book contributes to the field of Pinter studies by pursuing the thematic, linguistic, and formal elements integral to his aesthetic productions, and delineates the properties that serve as constants in Pinter’s dramatic oeuvre, thus justifying the term Pinteresque: pauses and silences, subtext, anxiety, violence, menace, vulnerability, victimization, intrusion, and power games. The discussions highlight the presence of a solid foundation for his drama—such as his conviction that the past is in the present—and connect all the plays to one another.