Harold Pinter

A Cultural materialistic approach to Harold Pinter’s Mountain Language

“…Pinter affords work for the device of repetition to fulfill a definite function in the action. Therefore, the repetition of the statement is more important than the statement itself; (Dukore, 1988) represented Pinter's materialistic language conveys something other than the meaning of its words that Pinter shows that language can be used to convey what it cannot be said that it is not the words that, but the sub-text, that Pinter has transcended the boundaries of language. Pinter has been fascinated by the elusive nature of reality.…”

Harold Pinter'sOld Timesand the play of indistinction

“…Old Times , together with plays such as Landscape (1967) , Silence (1968) , Monologue (1973), No Man’s Land (1975) , and also the dramatic sketch Night (1967), have traditionally been categorised as ‘memory plays’ (e.g. Dukore, 1988, 87–100). As summarised by Varun Begley in Modern Drama :

These works rest on the premise that memory, when expressed in language, is a way of transforming the self, of negotiating one’s relations to others and defining a place within the objective world.

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“…This contest for 'superior knowledge' (Billington, 2009, 367), primarily with the characters Anna and Deeley 'competing to re‐create the past' (Quigley, 1987, 17), has been described as an ongoing 'language struggle' (Knowles, 1995, 130) for the 'ultimate possession' of Kate (Billington, 2009, 367). Accordingly, 'memory is a weapon' (Dukore, 1988, 93), and recollections of the past are consequently 'tools for gaining advantage' (Batty, 2005, 52). Indeed, '[m]emories arouse rivalry and battles for domination through participation in a past or through one’s ability to persuade another to accept an interpretation of it' (Dukore, 1988, 93).…”

“…Accordingly, 'memory is a weapon' (Dukore, 1988, 93), and recollections of the past are consequently 'tools for gaining advantage' (Batty, 2005, 52). Indeed, '[m]emories arouse rivalry and battles for domination through participation in a past or through one’s ability to persuade another to accept an interpretation of it' (Dukore, 1988, 93). Another interpretive strategy has been that of stressing the 'fallibility of memory' (Knowles, 1995, 130) and how the past cannot 'be a verifiable record of the past' since '[t]he past is presented as possessing fluid, amorphous qualities that ultimately belie any attempt to construct present certainty from them' (Batty, 2005, 52, 53).…”