Harold Pinter and Elizabeth Bowen: Men and Women at War. Issue 3 (2nd July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Forster, Laurel
• Is Part Of: Historical journal of film, radio and television. Volume 40:Issue 3(2020)
• Page Start: 551
• Page End: 567
• Publication Date: 2020-07-02
• Subjects: Motion pictures -- History -- Periodicals; Broadcasting -- History -- Periodicals; 302.23409005
• DOI: 10.1080/01439685.2020.1778317
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0143-9685

Abstract

Abstract : Using the Harold Pinter Collection held at the British Library, this article investigates Harold Pinter's 1989 screenplay and television film of Elizabeth Bowen's 1949 novel The Heat of the Day. It argues for the detailed and direct ways in which Pinter used Bowen's language and dialogue to convey the complexities of wartime London. However, it also suggests that Pinter's adaptation deliberately excludes elements of women's experiences of the Second World War in favour of a more masculinised presentation of war and the spy genre.