Death etc.

By Harold Pinter

A collection of political essays, poetry, and dramatic works by the Nobel Prize–winning playwright and author of Betrayal.
 
Throughout his life, playwright, poet, and political activist Harold Pinter has consistently cast light on the hypocrisy of power and those who would defend the status quo for the sake of their own security and comfort. Awarded the Wilfred Owen Prize in 2004 for his poetry condemning US military intervention in Iraq, Mr. Pinter has succeeded in combining his artistry with his political activism.
 
Death etc. brings together Pinter’s most poignant and especially relevant writings in response to war. From chilling psychological portraits of those who commit atrocities in the name of a higher power, to essays on the state-sponsored terrorism of present-day regimes, to solemn hymns commemorating the faceless masses that perish unrecognized, Mr. Pinter’s writings are as essential to the preservation of open debate as to our awareness of personal involvement in the fate of our global community.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jan 27, 2015
• ISBN: 9780802191717

Book preview

Death etc.

By the same author

Plays

Ashes to Ashes • Betrayal • The Birthday Party • The Caretaker • Celebration and The Room • The Collection and The Lover • The Hothouse • Landscape and Silence • Moonlight • Mountain Language • No Man’s Land • Old Times • One for the Road • Other Places • (A Kind of Alaska, Victoria Station, Family Voices) • Party Times • The Room and The Dumb Waiter • A Slight Ache and Other Plays • Tea Party and Other Plays

Plays One

(The Birthday Party, The Room, The Dumb Waiter, A Slight Ache, The Hothouse, A Night Out, The Black and White, The Examination)

Plays Two

(The Caretaker, The Dwarfs, The Collection, The Lover, Night School, Trouble in the Works, The Black and White, Request Stop, Last to Go, Special Offer)

Plays Three

(The Homecoming) Tea Party, The Basement, Landscape, Silence, Night, That’s Your Trouble, That’s All, Applicant, Interview, Dialogue for Three, Old Times, No Man’s Land)

Plays Four

(Betrayal, Monologue, One for the Road, Family Voices, A Kind of Alaska, Victoria Station, Mountain Language, Precisely, The New World Order, Party Time, Moonlight, Ashes to Ashes)

Screenplays

The Comfort of Strangers and Other Screenplays (Reunion, Victory, Turtle Diary)

The French Lieutenant’s Woman and Other Screenplays (The Last Tycoon, Langrishe, Go Down)

The Heal of the Day

The Proust Screenplay

The Servant and Other Screenplays (The Pumpkin Eaters, The Quiller Memorandum, Accident, The Go-Between)

The Trial

Poetry and Prose

Collected Poems and Prose

The Dwarfs: A Novel

100 Poems by 100 Poets (an anthology selected by Harold Pinter, Geoffrey Godbert, and Anthony Astbury)

99 Poems in Translation (an anthology selected by Harold Pinter, Geoffrey Godbert, and Anthony Astbury)

Various Voices: Prose, Poetry, Politics

HAROLD PINTER

Death etc.

This collection copyright © 2005 by Harold Pinter

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Any members of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or publishers who would like to obtain permission to include the work in an anthology, should send their inquiries to Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

Printed in the United States of America

CAUTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that the plays contained in this volume are subject to a royalty. They are fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and all British Commonwealth countries, and all countries covered by the International Copyright Union, the Pan-American Copyright Convention, and the Universal Copyright Convention. All rights, including professional, amateur, motion picture, recitation, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, video or sound taping, all other forms of mechanical or electronic reproduction, such as information storage and retrieval systems and photocopying, and rights of translation into foreign languages, are strictly reserved.

First-class professional, stock, and amateur applications for permission to perform any of these works, and those other rights stated above, must be made in advance to Judy Daish Associates, Ltd., 2 St. Charles Place, London W10 6EG England, and paying the requisite fee, whether the play is presented for charity or gain and whether or not admission is charged. Mountain Language and One for the Road are licensed in the United States and Canada through Dramatists Play Service, 440 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cover design by Charles Rue Woods

Pinter, Harold, 1930–

Death etc./ Harold Pinter.

p. cm.

Includes author’s Wilfred Owen Award speech, given on Mar. 18, 2005.

ISBN 0-8021-4225-7

eISBN 978-0-8021-9171-7

I. Title.

PR6066.153D43 2005

822’.914—dc 22

2005050203

Grove Press

841 Broadway

New York, NY 10003

05  06  07  08  09      10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2

To Donald and Patty, Ariel and Angelica and Wally and Deborah

CONTENTS

Wilfred Owen Award Speech

Democracy

Mountain Language

The Disappeared

The New World Order

One for the Road

The Old Days

Press Conference

An Open Letter to the Prime Minister

House of Commons Speech

God Bless America

American Football

Iraq Debate, Imperial War Museum

The Special Relationship

The Bombs

Ashes to Ashes

Weather Forecast

After Lunch

Meeting

Death

Death etc.

WILFRED OWEN AWARD SPEECH

This