Pinter and Ingram
Sir: It is not often that I agree with the television reviews of Richard Ingrams, which, week after week, continue to deface
the pages of the Spectator with his moronic cynicism and monotonous, unconcealed contempt for the medium and all connected with it, but his review of Harold Pinter's The Lover (15 January) moved me to complete agreement, not so much for the review itself, for I did not see the programme, but for his final condemnation of Pinter's works in general, which he finished by saying: 'It seems extraordinary that he should have such a great reputation; that his plays should. . . be chosen as 'set books, for English Literature "A" Level exams. ft is extraordinary. I, at present, am looking forward with apprehension to the summer, when I will be faced with questions set by an 'A' Level examiner, who will be hoping, probably, that I will be able to enlighten him as to what people see in The Birthday Party. In case he should read this, and bearing in mind the long-held connection between madness and the moon, may I put my answer inverse?
It is rumoured that Pinter (the playwright) Wrdte all of his plays by the moonlight. Perhaps this explains Why his plays are such strains On my mind, for [find them all pure trite.
Sorry!
S. F. Lang 126 Kingston Road, New Malden, Surrey
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