Ramsco's Women Empowerment Initiative Recognized Among Top BRICS Businesswomen Practices for 2025    Egypt, Elsewedy review progress on Ain Sokhna phosphate complex    Gold prices end July with modest gains    Pakistan says successfully concluded 'landmark trade deal' with US    Egypt's FM, US envoy discuss Gaza ceasefire, Iran nuclear talks    Modon Holding posts AED 2.1bn net profit in H1 2025    Egypt's Electricity Ministry says new power cable for Giza area operational    Egypt's Al-Sisi, Italian defence minister discuss Gaza, security cooperation    Egypt's FM discusses Gaza, Nile dam with US senators    Aid airdrops intensify as famine deepens in Gaza amid mounting international criticism    Health minister showcases AI's impact on healthcare at Huawei Cloud Summit    On anti-trafficking day, Egypt's PM calls fight a 'moral and humanitarian duty'    Federal Reserve maintains interest rates    Egypt strengthens healthcare partnerships to enhance maternity, multiple sclerosis, and stroke care    Egypt keeps Gaza aid flowing, total tops 533,000 tons: minister    Indian Embassy to launch cultural festival in Assiut, film fest in Cairo    Egyptian aid convoy heads toward Gaza as humanitarian crisis deepens    Culture minister launches national plan to revive film industry, modernise cinematic assets    Rafah Crossing 'never been closed for one day' from Egypt: PM    I won't trade my identity to please market: Douzi    Two militants killed in foiled plot to revive 'Hasm' operations: Interior ministry    Egypt's EHA, Huawei discuss enhanced digital health    Egypt, Oman discuss environmental cooperation    Egypt's EDA explores pharma cooperation with Belarus    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



'Must you go?' Antonia Fraser remembers Harold Pinter

On the first evening the acclaimed British playwright Harold Pinter met his future wife Lady Antonia Fraser, he asked her: "Must you go?
Fraser, a glamorous historical biographer, said she replied: "No, it's not absolutely essential.
Just over a year after Pinter's death, Fraser is publishing a book on the 33 years during which the famous British literary couple lived together, titled "Must You Go? My Life with Harold Pinter.
Pinter, one of the most influential British playwrights of modern times, was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 2005.
Fraser presented the memoir of her "very happy years with Pinter for the first time in Mexico City, where one of her sons lives, ahead of its British release on Monday.
Fraser said she based the memoir in part on her diaries, which she has kept diligently since 1968.
"It's not a book I ever, ever expected to write, Fraser said, explaining how, shortly after Pinter's death on Christmas Eve, 2008, she suddenly made the decision to write the book.
"Every now and then I do think: 'What on earth have I done?' said Fraser, who has maintained her privacy about the relationship until now.
The book includes anecdotes on meetings with other literary celebrities, Fraser said, detailing her encounter with Latin American writer Mario Vargas Llosa in which he praised the play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , mistakenly believing it to be by Pinter, instead of Edward Albee.
Fraser said she was impressed by the "very handsome Peruvian and declined to correct his mistake.
She also told of how Salman Rushdie's first wife, Clarissa Luard, told her how she asked her famous novelist husband to read to her to send her to sleep.
In a country obsessed with class relationships, Fraser said she and Pinter, along with other writers and intellectuals, had belonged to a "bohemian class.
"A lot was made about me being a Catholic aristocrat and Harold being a working class East End boy, and this was tabloid talk because we were both in our early forties, we were both writers so you couldn't say I was upper class and he was working class, that's ridiculous, Fraser said.
The last part of the book touches on Pinter's seven-year battle with cancer, during which he continued to work and act on stage and screen.
"It wasn't until I came to write this book that I saw how extraordinarily brave he was, Fraser said, before declining to read one of Pinter's poems aloud for fear of crying.
Fraser, who was awarded a top British honor, a CBE, in 1999, has written many historical works, including a book on Marie Antoinette which was made into a film directed by Sofia Coppola.
Before marrying Pinter, Fraser was married to Conservative MP Hugh Fraser, with whom she had six children.


Clic here to read the story from its source.