British playwright Harold Pinter wins Nobel Prize for literature

In addition to his writing, Pinter was cited for his human-rights work.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
LONDON -- Harold Pinter, Britain's most celebrated playwright and a bitter critic of the Bush administration, was the surprise choice Thursday for the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature.
In addition to his 29 plays, Pinter, who turned 75 Monday, has taken turns as an actor, director and screenwriter. His best-known works are "The Caretaker," "The Homecoming" and "Betrayal," dark dramas in which the real action seems to be taking place beneath the surface of words. He also wrote the screenplay for "The French Lieutenant's Woman."
Earlier this year, after being treated for throat cancer, Pinter hinted that he had written his last play and would devote his energies to poetry and political activism.
In its award citation Thursday, the Swedish Academy said "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 award committee also noted his efforts in promoting human rights.
As a playwright, Pinter was at the height of his powers in the 1960s and '70s. But long-overlooked by the Nobel jury for literature's most prestigious prize, he was not on anyone's short list for this year's prize. The front-runners were believed to be the Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk and the Syrian poet Ali Ahmad Said, known as Adonis.