Ashes to Ashes [Paperback]

Harold Pinter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 14, 1997

First presented by the Royal Court Theatre in London in September of 1996, Ashes to Ashes is a triumph of power and concision. In the living room of a pleasant house in a university town outside of London, Devlin, threatened by his wife Rebecca's recollections of an abusive ex-lover, questions her relentlessly in his need for a single truth. In her seamless blending of what she knows of violence with the wider violence of the world, Rebecca reveals an eerie communion with the dead victims of unnamed political barbarities.

Product Details

• Paperback: 83 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (March 14, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802135102
• ISBN-13: 978-0802135100
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #303,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Haunting but not as successful as his other plays of this era, October 4, 2005

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ashes to Ashes (Paperback)

Harold Pinter's 1996 play ASHES TO ASHES is a dialogue between Rebecca and Devlin, a married couple. Devlin is curious about Rebecca's former lover, here called a factory owner, here called a travel agent, who dominated her completely:

"REBECCA: Well, he would stand over me and clench his fist. And then he'd put his other hand on my neck and grip it and bring my head towards him. His fist ... grazed my mouth. And he'd say 'Kiss my fist.' " Devlin's proddings reveal that Rebecca's lover was no ordinary travel agent. "REBECCA: He did work from a travel agency. He was a guide. He used to go to the local railway station and walk down the platform and tear all the babies from the arms of their screaming mothers." Through these revelations, interspersed with the most banal of everyday conversation, Rebecca and Devlin remember, retell, and eventually re-enact the horrible shared history of the 20th century, with its Holocaust, wars, and massacres.

The brutality it recounts can make the reader or spectator very uncomfortable, and ASHES TO ASHES succeeds in reminding us of the horrors of the 20th century, horrors that any human being can fall into creating. However, I do not think it is quite as successful as other plays Pinter wrote in this same era, such as "Mountain Language" or "Party Time." Incidentally, I must express my disappointment that American edition altered Pinter's original text, giving "soccer" instead of "football".

11 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ASHES TO ASHES, July 5, 2000

By 

S. H. Gale (Frankfort, KY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ashes to Ashes (Paperback)

ONE OF HAROLD PINTER'S RECENT PLAYS, THIS DRAMA GRAPHICALLY EXPLORES CONCERNS OF THE PLAYWRIGHT'S THAT HAVE BEEN FOREMOST IN HIS WRITING SINCE THE BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER ALONG WITH THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN FOREGROUNDED FOR THE PAST TWO DECADES. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NATURE OF REALITY, HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS, AND INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS ARE BLENDED WITH HIS POLITICAL INTERESTS, MOST PARTICULARLY WITH HIS EXPLORATION OF THE HOLOCAUST.

IN THIS GRIPPING STAGE PLAY, THE HEROINE TELLS A MAN ABOUT HER MEMORIES OF SEEING CHILDREN, HER OWN CHILD BEING AMONG THEM, BEING RIPPED FROM THEIR MOTHER'S ARMS BY MEN IN UNIFORM, ONE OF WHOM WAS HER LOVER. BUT, THE MAN CANNOT UNDERSTAND WHAT SHE IS SAYING, AND SHE IS TOO YOUNG TO HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN THE HOLOCAUST. SO, IS SHE REMEMBERING ANOTHER, MORE RECENT HOLOCAUST, OR HAS THE HOLOCAUST BECOME PART OF A JUNGIAN, RACIAL MEMORY?

ALTHOUGH NOT A MODERN CLASSIC LIKE THE HOMECOMING OR OLD TIMES, THIS IS ONE OF THE DRAMATIST'S MOST MOVING WORKS.