About the Book:

A succinct examination of Nobel prize-winner, Harold Pinter's creative output, providing introduction to drama (including theatre, film, TV and radio) and Pinter's letters prose and journalism.

Harold Pinter is one of the most important writers in English of the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century. This brief biography offers fresh insights into his life and work, concentrating on the themes, patterns, relationships, ideas and language common to his life and creative output. Placing Pinter's life and work alongside each other, the study illuminates Pinter's vision of society, politics, gender, sex, violence and human relationships. Drawing upon the full-range of his work, his letters, journalism, and writings about him, William Baker combines a biographical approach with close (re)readings of his work to create a fresh perspective on his life and art. The book offers students, academics and readers a rich depiction of Harold Pinter, the man and the writer.

What people say:

"The most fascinating, enigmatic, and accomplished dramatist in the English language." — Newsweek

"William Baker's Harold Pinter affords readers with a comprehensive, career-spanning analysis of the Nobel Laureate's life and art. A deft and eminently rewarding exploration of one of postwar literature's great masters, Baker's study will become the standard-bearer for our understanding and enjoyment of Pinter's time-eclipsing work." — Professor Ken Womack , Penn State University

"Pinter is undoubtedly the most influential and important craftsman in English theatre." — The Times Literary Supplement (London)

About the Author:

Harold Pinter (1930 – 2008), was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor, theatre director, poet, and Nobel laureate. He wrote over 30 plays and screenplays, as well as books of poetry and fiction. In 1995 he won the David Cohen British Literature Prize for a lifetime's achievement in literature; in 1996 he was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for a lifetime's achievement in theatre; and in 1997 he was named as the Sunday Times Writer of the Year. In 2002 he was made a Companion of Honour in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to literature. In 2005 Harold Pinter was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the highest honour available to any writer in the world.

William Baker is Presidential research professor of English at Northern Illinois University. He is a scholar distinguished for his work in bibliography and editing, especially of the novel from the later eighteenth to the twentieth century. Baker co-authored a bibliographical history on Nobel Prize-winning playwright and poet Harold Pinter that was selected as an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice magazine, the premier source for reviews of academic books. No author had previously consolidated Pinter's body of work.