HAROLD PINTER'S NOBEL SPEECH: Art, Truth, and Politics (Complete Text, plus Video Link)

Predictably, Harold Pinter's speech accepting (by satellite video) the Nobel Prize for Literature yesterday is being dismissed Stateside as simply an embittered anti-American rant. But the address by Pinter -- ailing and 75, but still the most formidable living British playwright (there was a valuable assessment of Pinter's cultural contribution in The Observer on Sunday by Robert Crum) -- is much more than that. It is also a searing meditation on the relevance of language to the state of our planet, and its differing uses by playwrights, poets, and politicians -- and his dramatic assessment of the U.S. role in the world should be the occasion for reflection by serious people. The Guardian has the entire text of Pinter's speech, which you can -- and should -- read by clicking here. And the official Nobel Prize website has the video of the speech, which you may access and watch on the 'net by clicking here.