Harold Pinter

摘要

Nothing in Harold Pinter's life explained the rage in him. A happy lower-middle-class childhood in an "immaculate house" in east London, the cherished only son of a Jewish tailor. Enjoyable years at Hackney Grammar, with an English teacher who inspired him. Batting, bowling, fielding slip, and all the lifelong joys of cricket. A close and loyal group of Hackney friends, whose friendship lasted. A decade acting in repertory up and down the country (sinister roles preferred), while delivering milk or clearing snow to bring in money. A rocky first marriage, with a seven-year affair, but a good, doting, purr-ingly contented second one to Lady Anto-nia Fraser, the daughter of an earl. A cataclysmic start in playwriting with "The Birthday Party" in 1958, which was panned and ran a week in London, but then redemption and fame with "The Caretaker" two years later. Accolades, lionising, two dozen more plays, two dozen acclaimed screenplays ("Sleuth", "The Go-Between", "The French Lieutenant's Woman") and, in 2005, the Nobel prize for literature.