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View Article  How About a One Bell Prize

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Inventor of dynamite      Drops a lot of F-bombs

In the November 7 edition of National Review, David Pryce-Jones has a funny article about the Nobel committee's decision to award the 2005 prize in literature to America-hating British playwright Harold Pinter, here http://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/p.php?i=20051107&v=t&a=7459.

I've never seen a Pinter play or read anything by the man, except a few excerpts of egregious poetry in the Pryce-Jones' article.  Evidently, I've been very fortunate in that.  Pryce-Jones, is also a neighbor Pinter's in "fashionable Kensington" so has also had the misfortune to hear the man expound on any number of topics, as well as dropping frequent f-bombs and other profanity.  Apparently an unpleasant man, with a perpetual scowl on his face, his attraction to the Nobel committee was clearly based on his politics and not his talent as a wordsmith. 

There are a lot of things wrong with the selection process for the Nobel prizes, which in the case of the literature award is decided by a committee of 18 drunken Swedes who serve in perpetuity.  Only the high suicide rate in the country allows for any reasonable turnover.  Presumably, a similar high standard of excellence is demanded by the other aged, besotted and sun starved committees.

A children's' program once proposed that the Nobel prize be superseded by a superior One Bell prize.  I second that motion.  All we need is a very rich non-Swede to pony up the endowment.  In any case, in closing and in honor of Mr. Pinter, and his apparently awful short poetry (several examples in the NR article) I offer this poor doggerel

I never saw a Pinter play,

I hope to never see one

And I can tell you anyway

It's due to the te dium.