This first full-length book on Pinter goes beyond an introductory study to an examination of the isolation characters in his plays endure and the lack of communication they bear. Dealing with Pinter's principal works, from his first play, The Room (1957),through his most recent, Silence (1969),Hollis shows that Pinter has created a new poetic, in which the real presence, silence, communicates--reflecting fears of real people searching for basic human needs.