Identity Statement
| Title | Harold Pinter / Brian Abbott Correspondence |
| Archive Reference | IE BL/SC/09 -10 |
| Web Link to this Entry | https://iar.ie/archive/harold-pinter-brian-abbott-correspondence |
| Creation Dates | Jun 1998-2003 |
| Extent Medium | 6 items |
Context
Creator(s): Brian Abbott
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Administrative History ↴
Brian Abbott is an Irish-based poet. Harold Pinter CH CBE (1930 -2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanned more than 50 years. -
Archival History ↴
IE BL/SC/09 - 10 comprises of ccorrespondence between Brian Abbott, an Irish based poet and the playwright Harold Pinter. Abbott initially contacted Pinter in response to his participation in a TV programme criticizing the second Iraq war. They were donated to UCC in 2009 by Brian Abbott. -
Immediate Source Acquisition ↴
Donation
Content & Structure
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Scope & Content: Brian Abbott ↴
BL/SC/09 -10
1. Jun 1998 (24 Mar 1999)
Copy letter from Brian Abbott, Bishopstown Road, Cork to Tony Blair, (MP), then Prime Minister of Great Britain, sharply criticising the Labour Governments stance in Kosovo and Iraq and asking “will the Labour Government now call for Generals and Politicians who were responsible for the invasion of East Timor and the murder of 200,000 people there to be brought to justice”. He further questions British policy regarding military intervention in Yugoslavia. 2pp
2. n.d.
Poem by Brian Abbott ‘Smart Bombs’. Begins ‘The bombs have made their “Smart” attack/ On targets deep inside Iraq’. 2pp
3. 2003
Extended and reworked version of the poem ‘Smart Bombs’, now titled ‘Iraq’. ‘“Smart” bombs have made a new attack/ On targets deep inside Iraq’”. 7pp
4. 23 May 1999
Mss letter from Harold Pinter, (playwright) Campden Hill Square, London to Brian Abbott in response to a letter from Abbott enclosing copies of his poem ‘Smart Bombs’ and a letter he had written to Tony Blair (see above). “I was very pleased to hear from you. I liked your Gulf War poem very much & also admired your letter to Mr. Blair”. About the current political situation he comments “It all really stinks to high heaven, doesn’t it?”. Encloses copies of his poems ‘American Football’ and ‘Check Point Perspective’. 3 items
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Appraisal Destruction ↴
Permanent Retention -
Arrangement ↴
Limited items – no arrangement applicable
Conditions of Access & Use
| Access Conditions | Available by appointment with the Archives Service to holders of UCC Readers tickets |
| Conditions Governing Reproduction | By application to Archivist only |
| Creation Dates | Jun 1998-2003 |
| Extent Medium | 6 items |
| Material Language Script | English |
| Finding Aids | Item description Archive Web Link → |
Allied Materials
There are no Allied Materials
Descriptive Control Area
| Archivist Note | Carol Quinn |
| Rules/Conventions | ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description. 2nd ed. Ottawa: International Council on Archives, 2000. |
| Date of Descriptions | 2009 |