Harold Pinter: Nobel Laureate

[matthias]

As most everyone is aware, British playwright Harold Pinter is this year's Nobel Laureate in Literature. His Nobel Lecture on "Art, Truth, and Politics" has received critical acclaim and coverage worldwide. The professionally produced video by UK's Channel 4 is the most worthwhile 46-min, I have spent watching in 2005. Here is the link: http://nobelprize.org/literature/lau...r-lecture.html

Most of our American friends probably won't agree with the laureate, but Pinter, at age 75, is also a cancer (US: throat; ROW: oesophagal) survivor. Here are his words in a poem:

"Cancer cells are those which have forgotten how
to die" - nurse, Royal Marsden hospital

They have forgotten how to die
And so extend their killing life.

I and my tumour dearly fight.
Let's hope a double death is out.

I need to see my tumour dead
A tumour which forgets to die
But plans to murder me instead.

But I remember how to die
Though all my witnesses are dead.
But I remember what they said
Of tumours which would render them
As blind and dumb as they had been
Before the birth of that disease
Which brought the tumour into play.

The black cells will dry up and die
Or sing with joy and have their way.
They breed so quietly night and day,
You never know, they never say.

[jdbob]

"Most of our American friends probably won't agree with the laureate"

I saw Mr. Pinter on TV recently, I think it was on Charlie Rose. He had some choice words for the Bush regime, and I couldn't find fault with his reasoning. At this point in our history I would classify the U.S. as a "rogue nation".

One of the problems with the U.S. is that it is huge, so huge that a large percentage of the population never gets out of it to get a wider view of the world. Most are spoon fed propoganda from large media conglomerates who are more interested in preserving their profits (by pandering to whatever administration is in power) rather than informing the public.