Pinter wins Nobel Prize in literature

Briton Harold Pinter has won the 2005 Nobel Prize in literature.

The Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, said he was an author “who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression’s closed rooms.”

In its citation, the academy said: “Pinter restored theatre to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue where people are at the mercy of each other and pretence crumbles.”

The award for the 75-year-old playwright – whose works include The Room, The Birthday Party, The Dumb Waiter and his breakthrough work, The Caretaker – will have two immediate consequences: increased book sales and controversy.

Last year’s winner, Austrian feminist Elfriede Jelinek, drew such ire that a member of the academy publicly blasted his colleagues for picking her.

Knut Ahnlund, 82, who has not played an active role in the academy since 1996, resigned on Tuesday after he wrote in a signed newspaper article that picking Jelinek had caused “irreparable damage” to the award’s reputation.