Table of Contents

Introduction
A last modernist
'someone called Pinter'
Resistance
Negation, autonomy, commitment
Politics
Popular culture
Immanent criticism
Cultural studies
Moonlight and modernity
1: The Politics of Negation
Reading The Birthday Party
The aesthetics of resistance: The Caretaker
Anti-Oedipus: The Homecoming
2: The Modernist as Populist
Reading The Dumb Waiter
A Slight Ache and the question of radio
Betrayal and mass culture
3: Towards the Postmodern
The memory plays: Pinter among the radicals

Promotional Information

'A substantial and important addition to Pinter criticism, and to modern drama generally, this exciting book by Varun Begley makes a case for reading Pinter's work on the cusp of modernism/postmodernism, leading to some intriguing and original insights into the plays. I found the book again and again surprising, with scholarship that is sound and up to date. Harold Pinter and the Twilight of Modernism provides a platform for a new and productive phase of Pinter scholarship.' -- W.B. Worthen, Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, University of California, Berkeley

About the Author

Ann Summers was a former Curator of Manuscripts at the British Library and is currently a curator at the Women's Library in London.