Harold Pinter unraveled the ‘Tapestry of Lies’

Harold Pinter unraveled the ‘Tapestry of Lies’

Harold Pinter, Nobel-prize-winning British playwright, died of cancer on Dec. 24 at the age of 78.

Pinter was regarded as the foremost representative of British drama in the second half of the 20th century, but his 29 plays, numerous screenplays, prose and poetry made the British bourgeoisie uncomfortable.

Pinter’s plays and poetry exposed hypocrisy, corruption and viciousness. As one of his characters said, “The present is truly unscrupulous.” [“No Man’s Land,” 1975]

An outspoken critic of imperialism, Pinter spoke against the Gulf War, the invasion and breakup of Yugoslavia and the war on Iraq. At a conference on the Balkans in 2000, one year after NATO’s “humanitarian bombing” of Yugoslavia, Pinter said, “The United States has opened up the way for ... more ‘humanitarian intervention’, more demonstrations of its total indifference to the fate of thousands upon thousands of people.” (haroldpinter.org)