Harold Pinter on Tennessee Williams: Writing is Sacred

Interview with Harold Pinter

Conducted by James Grissom

By Telephone

1997

He taught me--taught us all--that lunacy and cruelty and mediocrity and silliness surround us, but they also lift us. The world cannot operate without such things, but the world cannot destroy us. And so he sat down and he wrote stories about people who were defeated in ways that could serve as lessons to us all. He was one of the writers who taught me and showed me that writing--all art--is sacred, is a religion, when it lifts and inspires and illumines. So I don't suggest wishing for nice, balanced people or situations that make perfect sense, or people who operate out of kindness. I suggest transforming all of these things so that we have art and peace and understanding.