1st Edition

Pinter and the Object of Desire An Approach Through the Screenplays

By Linda Renton Copyright 2002
    196 Pages
    by Routledge

    Harold Pinter was fascinated by film ling before he began writing for the theatre, but the importance of his screenplays, based on the work of other authors, has been overlooked. Renton traces his progress from first draft to a final text in which the unspoken and unseen provoke in us a response of acute desire or anxiety. A newly discovered Pinter poem links him to Surrealists, and through the Surrealists to their contemporary, the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan (1901-81). The present study distinguishes Pinter's methods of composition from those of mainstream screenwriters, places him at the forefront of film theory and offers a fresh insight into his entire artistic output.

    Acknowledgements, Note on Manuscripts, Abbreviations, 1 Vision and the Object of Desire, 2 The Object of Desire in the Screenplay Adaptations, 3 The Remains of the Day: The Lost Object of Desire, 4 The Handmaid's Tale: The Object Almost Achieved, 5 Victory: The Object of Anxiety, 6 The Object of Desire in the Plays and Other Works, Conclusion, Bibliography, Index

    Biography

    Linda Renton gained her doctorate from the University of the West of England in 1999. She lectures on film at Bath University College.