Harold Pinter and academia concerns academic recognition of and scholarship pertaining to Harold Pinter, CH, CBE (1930–2008), English playwright, screenwriter, actor, director, poet, author, political activist, and the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, at the time of his death considered by many "the most influential and imitated dramatist of his generation."New York Times obituary, "Harold Pinter, Playwright of the Pause, Dies at 78", by Gussow and Brantley; cf. Adams; Billington's Guardian obituary, "Harold Pinter"; and Dodds. These and other critical appraisals of Pinter's cultural influence, accounts of his death and funeral, and memorial tributes, are listed in Obituaries and related articles.
Academic honours
Among the honours received during his lifetime, Pinter was the recipient of 20 honorary degrees or fellowships conferred by European and American academic institutions, and he was an Honorary Fellow of the Modern Language Association of America (MLA) (1970). In 2006 Pinter was elected a "foreign member" of the Department of Language and Literature of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA [SANU]),"Foreign Members" , Department of Language and Literature, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA), SANU (sanu.ac.rs), 2009 [Relocated from sanu.ac.rs, 15 September 2007], Web, 25 April 2009. [The English-language section of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA/SANU) website listing "Foreign Members" of the Department of Language and Literature including the names of both Harold Pinter and Ronald Harwood is not currently operational since the site's relocation to the "rs" from the "yu" domain, and the previous URL (accessed previously on 15 September 2007) is not archived; however, the information at the "yu" domain was previously verified as indicated, on 15 September 2007.] and he received the Serbian Foundation Prize and the St. George Plaque of the City of Kragujevac.Listed in the "Awards" section of the biography "Harold Pinter" at HaroldPinter.org, Pinter's official website.
Although, also due to illness, he had been unable to travel to Stockholm in December 2005 to receive his Nobel Prize and to deliver his Nobel Lecture in person, presenting it on videotape instead, Pinter did travel to Turin, Italy, in March 2006, to accept the Europe Theatre Prize; there he was the subject of an international symposium, Pinter: Passion, Poetry, Politics, curated by his official, authorised biographer, Michael Billington, whose participants included "distinguished" academics from the United States and Europe.See Francis Gillen, "Introduction," The Pinter Review: Nobel Prize/Europe Theatre Prize Volume x–xi and "Contributors" 344–45; revised versions of papers presented at Pinter: Passion, Poetry, Politics are included in this volume.
He was the subject of two international academic conferences in March and April 2007. Viva Pinter: Hommage à Harold Pinter, Prix Nobel de Littérature 2005, Légion d'Honneur 2007, organised by Professor Brigitte Gauthier of the University of Lyon's Université Jean Moulin (Lyon 3), in Lyon, France, focused on connections between Pinter's support for human rights, his dramatic works, his poetry, and his films, hosting various events, including productions, panel discussions, and screenings for students, guests, and the public; it was held from 2 to 21 March 2007, with an international colloquium following from 22 to 24 March 2007."Viva Pinter (Mars 2007)" , VivaPinter.org (Mar. 2007), rpt. in Sens public: Revue internationale – International Webjournal (sens-public.org) [Public Sense: International Review – International Webjournal], 5 February 2007, Web, 25 April 2009. . (12 pages.) Accessible from "Viva Pinter" (HTML version in French).
In conjunction with Pinter's being awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Leeds, School of English, on 13 April 2007, which he was able to accept in person, there was a three-day academic conference Artist and Citizen: 50 Years of Performing Harold Pinter at the University's Workshop Theatre, co-sponsored by The Harold Pinter Society, held from 12 to 14 April. The honorary degree ceremony on the 13th was conducted by University Chancellor Lord Melvyn Bragg."Pinter Receives Honorary Degree", BBC News, BBC, 13 April 2007, Web, 25 April 2009. ["Playwright Harold Pinter has been praised for his contribution to English literature as he received an honorary degree at Leeds University."]
In the spring of 2008, in absentia, Pinter was awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Kragujevac.Harold Pinter at the University of Kragujevac, School of Philology and Arts, University of Kragujevac, 2008, Web. Retrieved 4 June 2010. On 23 June 2008, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Cambridge, in absentia."Cambridge Honorary Degrees 2008" , University of Cambridge, News and Events, University of Cambridge, 27 February 2008, Web, 23 June 2008: "Harold Pinter, playwright, actor and director (Doctor of Letters). ... Honorary Degrees [were] conferred at a special Congregation ... held in the Senate House on Monday 23 June." [Pinter did not attend the ceremony due to ill health.]
On 11 December 2008, the press media reported that Pinter received an honorary degree (an honorary fellowship) from the Central School of Speech and Drama (CSSD), in London, also in absentia, as he "was forced to withdraw from the [honorary degree ceremony] event due to illness.""Degree Honour for Playwright Pinter", AOL United Kingdom, America Online UK (Time Warner), 10 December 2008, Web, 13 March 2009."Central's 2008 Graduation Ceremony" , Central School of Speech and Drama, News, University of London, 12 December 2008, Web, 1 January 2009. [Press release concerning "Honorary Fellowships for Harold Pinter, Jo Brand and Penny Francis."] The honorary degrees from the Cambridge University, the Central School of Speech and Drama, and the University of Kragujevac are not (yet) listed on his official website; its listing ends with 2007; his biography provided there has not (yet) been updated (as of 23 April 2009).
In October 2008, two months prior to his death on 24 December, Pinter also became honorary president of the Central School of Speech and Drama, a constituent college of the University of London,Alistair Smith, "Pinter Replaces Mandelson as Central President", The Stage, thestage.co.uk, 14 October 2008, Web, 15 October 2008. and received his 20th honorary award, from that institution, on 10 December 2008, in absentia because of illness.
Harold Pinter Society In 1986, at an annual convention of the Modern Language Association (MLA), Steven H. Gale, who became the organisation's first president, brought together several American academic scholars to form The Harold Pinter Society, which later became an Allied Organization of the MLA and an Associated Organization of the Midwest Modern Language Association (M/MLA).Past webpages of The Harold Pinter Society (since updated) detailed this history, which is also published in "Introduction", The Pinter Review: Collected Essays: 1999 and 2000, ed. Francis Gillen and Steven H. Gale (Tampa: U of Tampa P, 2000) xi–xiii. The Pinter Society is international in membership and scope, according to the masthead of The Pinter Review and the Society's Webpages (home page). According to the website of the International Pinter Society, its members are "dedicated to studying, celebrating, and appraising the works of this prolific and frequently enigmatic writer" (home page). As an MLA Allied Organization, it organises "a business meeting, programs in which scholars present papers, and related social events at the MLA annual convention." The home page also lists the officers of the Society: President Ann C. Hall (Ohio Dominican University); Vice-President Mark Taylor-Batty (University of Leeds), who designs and maintains the Society's website; and Treasurer Judith Roof (Rice University), who edits and distributes its newsletters to an electronic subscribers' mailing list. The most recent newsletters can be downloaded from the Society's website.
The Pinter Review Members of The Harold Pinter Society and individual and institutional subscribers receive The Pinter Review, whose founding co-editors are Francis Gillen (University of Tampa) and Steven H. Gale (Kentucky State University), an academic journal first published in conjunction with the Pinter Society by The University of Tampa Press in 1987.
The Pinter Review became a collection of Annual Essays in 1989 and then a biennial book publication of Collected Essays in 1997 and 1998; it is published in both hardcover and softcover editions. Each issue or volume contains a bibliography of works, productions, and other events by and about Pinter compiled by Bibliographical Editor Susan Hollis Merritt."Contents", The Pinter Review (Tampa: U of Tampa P, 1987– ), rpt. in HaroldPinter.org, Harold Pinter, 2000–, Web, 25 April 2009. (Retyped table of contents from The Pinter Review; some typographical variations.)"Upcoming Events for the Year 2007", HaroldPinter.org, Harold Pinter, 2000–, Web, 25 April 2009. [Periodically updated.]
The cover of The Pinter Review: Collected Essays 2003 and 2004 (published by The University of Tampa Press in 2004) features Pinter's poems "Meeting" (August 2002) and "After Lunch" (September 2002), which, along with some of his other recent poetry, are both posted on his official website."Contents", The Pinter Review: Collected Essays 2003 and 2004 (Tampa: U of Tampa P, 2004), rpt. in HaroldPinter.org, Harold Pinter, 2000–, Web, 25 April 2009.Harold Pinter, "Meeting", in "Poetry: Harold Pinter's Recent Poetry" (section), HaroldPinter.org, Harold Pinter, 2000–, Web, 25 April 2009.Harold Pinter, "After Lunch", in "Poetry: Harold Pinter's Recent Poetry", HaroldPinter.org, Harold Pinter, 2000–, Web, 25 April 2009.The softcover edition features the photographed texts of these two poems on its cover; the hardcover edition features them on its dust jacket.