About The Book

In all of Pinter’s plays, seemingly ordinary events become charged with profound, if elusive, meaning, haunting pathos, and wild comedy. In The Caretaker, a tramp finds lodging in the derelict house of two brothers; in The Dumb Waiter, a pair of gunmen wait for the kill in a decayed lodging house. Harold Pinter gradually exposes the inner strains and fears of his characters, alternating hilarity and terror to create an almost unbearable edge of tension.

Praise

“Since the remarkable success of The Caretaker in 1960, Harold Pinter has been recognized as ‘the most fascinating, enigmatic, and accomplished dramatist in the English language.’” —Jack Kroll, Newsweek

“The Caretaker is . . . a powerful drama with a climax that tears at the heart . . . and proclaims its author as one of the most important playwrights of our day.” —Howard Taubman, The New York Times

“There is no playwright his equal. He is the natural descendant of James Joyce, by way of Samuel Beckett. Pinter works the language as a master pianist works the keyboard. This is classical playwriting, make no mistake about it.” —Martin Gottfried, New York Post

Awards

Winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature