Harold Pinter, The Homecoming

Andrew Wyllie (University of the West of England)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1965

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

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As well as being one of the most popular,

The Homecoming

(1965) has proved to be among the most controversial of Harold Pinter\'s plays, at least as far as newspaper critics and academic commentators are concerned. There is no doubt that the action on stage continues to draw and hold audiences, as the play is frequently revived.

The Homecoming

shares a number of characteristics with Pinter\'s earlier comedies of menace. It is set in a dingy interior; there is throughout the play a sense of (largely) suppressed violence; the exchanges between the characters seem to be composed substantially of non sequiturs; the words that the characters actually say are divorced from what they mean (the meaning being discernible only by piercing what has been described as the irony and indifference of the…

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2116 words

Citation: Wyllie, Andrew. "The Homecoming". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 February 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=580, accessed 26 April 2024.]

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