Friday, October 14, 2005

God Help Us All (Again)

Harold Pinter wins Nobel Prize for Literature.

No wonder this guy wanted to resign...

I'm no aficionado of Pinter's works, to be fair. However, I can't help but think that this award is overtly political because of Pinter's outspoken opposition to the Iraq War, and to US foreign policy in general. Has he done anything of note recently to justify the award being given now, and not earlier?

UPDATE: As with most things, I've been discussing this in the pub. The friend I mentioned it to came up with the point that although most Nobel winners don't get the award at the height of their powers, they usually get it by about 10 years after their best works - certainly not 20. So it seems a fair conclusion to draw that he wouldn't have won the award purely on literary merit.