British playwright Harold Pinter wins Nobel

Overtly political work
Over time, his attention turned to the world at large. A vocal critic of the market economics of Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s — he said his vote for her in 1979 was “idiotic, infantile” — his work became more overtly political.

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“The New World Order,” billed as “a short satiric response to the Gulf War,” was a 10-minute play whose title derives from a phrase used by then-President George Bush. In 2003, Pinter published a volume of anti-war poetry about the current Iraq conflict. He later joined a group of celebrities calling for the impeachment of Blair, who sent British troops to Iraq.

Although a harsh critic of Britain, Pinter told the BBC in 2002 that he loved many things about it — the English countryside, cricket and “a fundamental decency in the country itself.”

In March 2005, Pinter announced his retirement as a playwright to concentrate on politics. But he created a radio play, “Voices,” that was recently broadcast on BBC radio to mark his 75th birthday, and said Thursday that he would continue writing poetry.

“And I’ll certainly remain deeply engaged in the question of political structures in this world,” he said.

The Swedish Academy, founded in 1786 by King Gustav III to advance the Swedish language and its literature, has handed out the literature prize since 1901. To date 102 men and women have received the prize, including France’s Jean-Paul Sartre, who declined the 1964 honor.

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