The Room and The Dumb Waiter In these two early one-act plays, Harold Pinter reveals himself as already in full control of his unique ability to make dramatic poetry of the banalities of everyday speech and the precision with which it defines character. 'Harold Pinter is the most original writer to have emerged from the "new wave" of dramatists who gave fresh life to the British theatre in the fifties and early sixties.' The Times
This collection of essays focuses on one of Harold Pinter's most popular and challenging plays, The Dumb Waiter, while addressing also a range of significant issues current in Pinter studies and which are applicable beyond this play. The interesting and provocative dialogues between established and emerging scholars featured here provide close readings of The Dumb Waiter, within relevant cultural and historical contexts and from a range of theoretical perspectives. The essays range over issues of autobiography and theater, genre studies, and the impact of Pinter's political activism on his dramatic production, among others. The collection is also concerned with the meaning of the play when assessed against other example's of Pinter's work, both dramatic and non-dramatic writing. Each contributor shows a gift for presenting a complex argument in an accessible style, making this book an important resource for a wide range of readers, from undergraduates to postgraduates and specialist researchers. The collection offers essays that approach The Dumb Waiter, from an interdisciplinary perspective and as both a literary and dramatic text. Thus, the book should be of equal significance to those encountering Pinter within the context of English Studies, drama, and performance.
The reissuing of all his plays marks the arrival of Harold Pinter at Faber. These two plays were first performed as a double bill in 1960, first at the Hampstead Theatre Club and then at the Royal Court. They immediately established themes that Pinter developed in his later work.
'The Dumb Waiter' tells the story of two orphans. Tom Broom is raised by his grandfather - an aficionado of fine desserts and a long standing member of The Pudding Club. Stella Brighton lives under the guardianship of a failing grandmother, preceding that of a chaotic aunt with an appetite for decorating and occasional prostitution. Both orphans seek to escape an unwanted childhood: Tom through an imaginary lover, whilst Stella grows up in an invented world of letter writing. Patched-up and raised to the brink of adulthood, their paths cross in the university city of York. Tom takes the cellar rooms of an old house discovering a boarded up dumb waiter connecting him to fellow tenant, Klaus, a womanizing student of art whilst Stella shares a flat with Martha, an American shoe heiress. The two are drawn into a circle of acquaintances and become friends. When the circle disintegrates Tom decides to travel to London in search of his mother, only to find more of a family than he bargained for.
BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • Forget room service: this is a riotous elegy, a deadpan celebration of colliding worlds, and a spirited defense of love. Blending incisive wit with surprising compassion, Hotel World is a wonderfully invigorating, life-affirming book. Five people: four are living; three are strangers; two are sisters; one, a teenage hotel chambermaid, has fallen to her death in a dumbwaiter. But her spirit lingers in the world, straining to recall things she never knew. And one night all five women find themselves in the smooth plush environs of the Global Hotel, where the intersection of their very different fates make for this playful, defiant, and richly inventive novel.
