RE: Pinter's speech

--- Paul Riley <[email protected]> wrote:
> In what way do you consider the Nobel Prize in
> Literature to be a
> "technical" choice?
> 

I compared it to the Peace one. It's technical
compared to that. 

Apart from Churchill, I don't recall any other author
who was awarded the Literature Prize purely for
political reasons. There are some choices that I find
bizarre (like J.M.Coetzee, whose books I've always
found unreasonably violent) but I'm no critic.
However, every single book, play or poem I've come
across that was written by a nobel prize winner is of
high standards, whether agreeable to my personal taste
or not. 

>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize_in_Literature
> 
> -- The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded annually
> to an author from any
> country who has, in the words of Alfred Nobel,
> produced "the most
> outstanding work of an idealistic tendency". --
> 
> And even if we accept that it is a technical choice,
> can we honestly say
> that any kind of artist is to be valued for his
> political opinions purely
> based on the quality of his art?  Why not sportsmen
> then?
> 

Ehm, perhaps because artists use their minds? 

Should we talk about art in general? If there's one
thing about the western civilization that has always
been political, that's its art. Renaissance painters
challenged the absolute rule of the Pappal Church by
"breaking" the forms and hierarchy of painting,
theatrical plays challenged prolonged wars like the
Peloponnesean,  intelligent satire of contemporary
morals can be  found in the works of people like
Wilde, the expression of the romantic era is in the
works of Byron (also highly political in his approach
to Meternich's rulings), new forms and styles of
making movies that can escape Soviet censorship were
developed (Eisenstein), camera tricks that challenge
the viewer's standards (Orson Welles), songs like
"Give peace a chance". The list of artists that chose
to challenge contemporary values is huge, whether that
be a minor or major challenge, whether in the right
direction or not. The same applies for famous
compromises, like Kazan's works or Beethoven's Heroic
symphony. A good example: Shakespeare pictured Richard
the III as a cripple and the darker of villains; we
all have his play in mind but most historians agree
that probably he did that mostly because the Tudor
propagandists wanted to justify Henry VII’s own
usurpation of the throne. 

Art is definetely political in its core. We do agree
on that, don't we? 

> It should come as no surprise that Pinter will take
> any opportunity for his
> political campaigning.  He is the literary
> equivalent to Michael Moore,
> looking for any passing bandwagon to leap on.  

Ehm, I've only seen one of his plays and I would not
consider his work equivalent to Moore's films. He's
nowhere as "enrolled" to the "cause" and the quality
of work is on an entirely different level. 

He's
> supported Saddam against
> the US, the Taliban against the US, Milosovic
> against the US, Castro against
> the US.  Are you seeing a common theme here?
> 

I tend to disagree here. As far as I know he's spoken
against the US policies over the last 5-6 decades.
That would put him against the invasion of Iraq for
example, but why is that the same as supporting
Saddam? And I'm quite certain he has not taken any 
position favorable to the Taliban regime. Do you have
a specific speech you refer to? 

> I don't necessarily disagree with his sentiment in
> this particular case, but
> Pinter saying it out loud has done nothing to swing
> my opinion either way.
> 

Fair enough, my question was whether an important
public figure (and I'm sure we all agree that a nobel
prize winner is one such) captures media attention if
what he says is, in fact, as blunt as the speech
Pinter's delivered on the ceremony. 

Gregory




		
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