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Pinter wins Nobel literature prize
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YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSLONDON, England (CNN) -- British playwright Harold Pinter has been awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in literature. Pinter's plays uncover "the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms," the Nobel committee said Thursday on its Web site. His works include the original play and screenplays "The Homecoming" in 1964 and "The Caretaker" in 1959, along with screenplay adaptations for "The Handmaid's Tale" and "The French Lieutenant's Woman." The Swedish Academy's award carries with it a 10 million crown ($1.28 million) prize. Pinter celebrated his 75th birthday on Monday. "I had absolutely no idea. I didn't know until 11:45 this morning. I was speechless," Pinter told reporters. "I have to stop being speechless when I get to Stockholm." The academy said Pinter -- whose works also include "The Room," "The Birthday Party" and "The Dumb Waiter" -- restored the art form of writing plays. "Pinter restored theater to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue where people are at the mercy of each other and pretense crumbles," the academy said. Pinter is the first Briton to win the literature award since V.S. Naipaul won it in 2001. Born in London on October 10, 1930, Pinter was the son of a Jewish tailor. He has said his choice of career was influenced by encounters with anti-Semitism in his youth. The wartime bombing of London also affected him deeply, the academy said. His dramas were populated by eroticism, obsession, jealousy and hatred -- what critics dubbed "the theatre of insecurity." His work also led to the creation of a new word, "Pinteresque," often characterized by the juxtaposition of brutality and the banal. Pinter recently turned his attention to the war in Iraq. He has been an outspoken critic of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and vehemently opposed Britain's involvement in the war. In 2003, Pinter published a volume of anti-war poetry about the Iraq conflict, and in 2004 he joined a group of celebrity campaigners calling for Blair to be impeached. In a February interview with the BBC, he said he would continue writing poems but was taking a break from plays. "My energies are going in different directions, certainly into poetry," he said. "But also, as I think you know, over the last few years I've made a number of political speeches at various locations and ceremonies." "I'm using a lot of energy more specifically about political states of affairs, which I think are very, very worrying as things stand." Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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