Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco instigated a revolution in ideas and techniques of drama, beginning with his "anti play", ''

The Bald Soprano ''La Cantatrice chauve '' – translated from French as ''The Bald Soprano'' or ''The Bald Prima Donna'' – is the first play written by Romanian-French playwright Eugène Ionesco. Nicolas Bataille directed the premiere on 11 May 1950 at the ...

'' which contributed to the beginnings of what is known as the

Theatre of the Absurd The Theatre of the Absurd (french: théâtre de l'absurde ) is a post–World War II designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s. It is also a term for the style o ...

, which includes a number of plays that, following the ideas of the philosopher

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His work ...

, explore concepts of absurdism. He was made a member of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

in 1970, and was awarded the 1970

Austrian State Prize for European Literature The Austrian State Prize for European Literature (german: Österreichischer Staatspreis für Europäische Literatur), also known in Austria as the European Literary Award (''Europäischer Literaturpreis''), is an Austria Austria, , bar, Ö ...

, and the 1973

Jerusalem Prize The Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society is a biennial literary award given to writers whose works have dealt with themes of human freedom in society. It is awarded at the Jerusalem International Book Forum (previously kn ...

Biography

Ionesco was born in Slatina, Romania, to a Romanian father belonging to the

Orthodox Christian Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churche ...

church and a mother of French and Romanian heritage, whose faith was

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

(the faith into which her father was born and to which her originally

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek language, Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the Eastern Orthodox Church, entire body of Orthodox (Chalced ...

Christian mother had converted). Eugène was baptized into the

faith. Many sources cite his birthdate as 1912, this error being due to vanity on the part of Ionesco himself, who wanted the year of his birth to coincide with that of when his idol, Romanian playwright Caragiale, died. He spent most of his childhood in France and, while there, had an experience he claimed affected his perception of the world more significantly than any other. As Deborah B. Gaensbauer describes in ''Eugène Ionesco Revisited'', "Walking in summer sunshine in a white-washed provincial village under an intense blue sky, onescowas profoundly altered by the light." He was struck very suddenly with a feeling of intense luminosity, the feeling of floating off the ground and an overwhelming feeling of well-being. When he "floated" back to the ground and the "light" left him, he saw that the real world in comparison was full of decay, corruption and meaningless repetitive action. This also coincided with the revelation that death takes everyone in the end. Much of his later work, reflecting this new perception, demonstrates a disgust for the tangible world, a distrust of communication, and the subtle sense that a better world lies just beyond our reach. Echoes of this experience can also be seen in references and themes in many of his important works: characters pining for an unattainable "city of lights" ('' The Killer'', ''

The Chairs ''The Chairs'' (french: Les Chaises) is a one-act play by Eugène Ionesco, described as an absurdist "tragic farce". It was first performed in Paris in 1952. Setting A high tower surrounded by water. Characters *Old Man, aged 95 *Old Woman, a ...

'') or perceiving a world beyond (''

A Stroll in the Air A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

''); characters granted the ability to fly (''A Stroll in the Air'', ''

Amédée Amédée is a French masculine forename. Notable people with the forename include: Persons * Amédée, stage name of Philippe de Chérisey (1923-1985), French writer, radio humorist, surrealist and actor *Amédée Artus (1815-1892), French condu ...

'', ''Victims of Duty''); the banality of the world which often leads to depression (the Bérenger character); ecstatic revelations of beauty within a pessimistic framework (''Amédée'', ''The Chairs'', the Bérenger character); and the inevitability of death (''

Exit the King ''Exit the King'' (french: Le Roi se meurt) is an absurdist drama by Eugène Ionesco that premiered in 1962. It is the third in Ionesco's "Berenger Cycle", preceded by '' The Killer'' (1958) and ''Rhinocéros'' (1959), and followed by ''A Str ...

''). He returned to Romania with his father and mother in 1925 after his parents divorced. There he attended

Saint Sava National College The Saint Sava National College (Romanian: ''Colegiul Național Sfântul Sava''), Bucharest, named after Sabbas the Sanctified, is the oldest and one of the most prestigious high schools in Romania. It was founded in 1694, under the name of t ...

, after which he studied French Literature at the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...

from 1928 to 1933 and qualified as a teacher of French. While there he met

Emil Cioran Emil Mihai Cioran (, ; 8 April 1911 – 20 June 1995) was a Romanian philosopher, aphorist and essayist, who published works in both Romanian and French. His work has been noted for its pervasive philosophical pessimism, style, and aphorisms. H ...

and

Mircea Eliade Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanians, Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who establ ...

, and the three became lifelong friends. In 1936 Ionesco married Rodica Burileanu. Together they had one daughter, Marie-France Ionesco, for whom he wrote a number of unconventional children's stories. With his family, he returned to France in 1938 for him to complete his doctoral thesis. Caught by the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he returned to Romania, but soon changed his mind and, with the help of friends, obtained travel documents which allowed him to return to France in 1942, where he remained during the rest of the war, living in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

before moving with his family to Paris after its liberation.

Literary career

Writing in Romania

Though best known as a playwright, plays were not his first chosen medium. He started writing poetry and criticism, publishing in several Romanian journals. Two early writings of note are ''Nu'', a book criticizing many other writers, including prominent Romanian poets, and ''Hugoliade, or, The grotesque and tragic life of Victor Hugo'' a satirical biography mocking

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

's status as a great figure in French literature. The ''Hugoliade'' includes exaggerated retellings of the most scandalous episodes in Hugo's life and contains prototypes for many of Ionesco's later themes: the ridiculous authoritarian character, the false worship of language.

Origins of his first play

Ionesco began his theatre career later in life; he did not write his first play until 1948 (''

La Cantatrice chauve ''La Cantatrice chauve '' – translated from French as ''The Bald Soprano'' or ''The Bald Prima Donna'' – is the first play written by Romanian-French playwright Eugène Ionesco. Nicolas Bataille directed the premiere on 11 May 1950 at th ...

'', first performed in 1950 with the English title ''The Bald Soprano''). At the age of 40, he decided to learn English using the

Assimil Assimil (often stylised as ASSiMiL) is a French company, founded by Alphonse Chérel in 1929. It creates and publishes foreign language courses, which began with their first book ''Anglais Sans Peine'' ("English Without Toil"). Since then, the c ...

method, conscientiously copying whole sentences in order to memorize them. Re-reading them, he began to feel that he was not learning English, rather he was discovering some astonishing truths such as the fact that there are seven days in a week, that the ceiling is up and the floor is down; things which he already knew, but which suddenly struck him as being as stupefying as they were indisputably true. This feeling only intensified with the introduction in later lessons of the characters known as "Mr. and Mrs. Smith". To her husband's astonishment, Mrs. Smith informed him that they had several children, that they lived in the vicinity of London, that their name was Smith, that Mr. Smith was a clerk, and that they had a servant, Mary, who was English like themselves. What was remarkable about Mrs. Smith, Ionesco thought, was her eminently methodical procedure in her quest for truth. For Ionesco, the clichés and truisms of the conversation

primer Primer may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Primer'' (film), a 2004 feature film written and directed by Shane Carruth * ''Primer'' (video), a documentary about the funk band Living Colour Literature * Primer (textbook), a t ...

disintegrated into wild caricature and parody with language itself disintegrating into disjointed fragments of words. Ionesco set about translating this experience into a play, ''La Cantatrice Chauve'', which was performed for the first time in 1950 under the direction of

Nicolas Bataille Nicolas Bataille (14 March 1926 – 28 October 2008) was a French actor and director. Biography The son of a Parisian architect, Nicolas Bataille (born Roger Bataille) debuted as an actor during the Occupation of France while following the drama ...

. It was far from a success and went unnoticed until a few established writers and critics, among them

Jean Anouilh Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ''Antigone'', an a ...

and

Raymond Queneau Raymond Queneau (; 21 February 1903 – 25 October 1976) was a French novelist, poet, critic, editor and co-founder and president of Oulipo ('' Ouvroir de littérature potentielle''), notable for his wit and cynical humour. Biography Queneau w ...

, championed the play.

Early plays

Ionesco's earliest theatrical works, considered to be his most innovative, were one-act plays or extended sketches: ''La Cantatrice chauve'' translated as ''

'' or ''The Bald Prima Donna'' (written 1948), ''Jacques ou la soumission'' translated as '' Jack, or The Submission'' (1950), ''La Leçon'' translated as '' The Lesson'' (1950), ''Les Salutations'' translated as '' Salutations'' (1950), ''Les Chaises'' translated as ''

'' (1951), ''L'Avenir est dans les oeufs'' translated as '' The Future is in Eggs'' (1951), ''Victimes du devoir'' translated as '' Victims of Duty'' (1952) and, finally, ''Le Nouveau locataire'' translated as '' The New Tenant'' (1953). These absurdist sketches, to which he gave such descriptions as "anti-play" (''anti-pièce'' in French) express modern feelings of alienation and the impossibility and futility of communication with

surreal Surreal may refer to: *Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art * "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki * ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze *Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor ...

comic force, parodying the conformism of the bourgeoisie and conventional theatrical forms. In them Ionesco rejects a conventional story-line as their basis, instead taking their dramatic structure from accelerating rhythms and/or cyclical repetitions. He disregards psychology and coherent dialogue, thereby depicting a dehumanized world with mechanical, puppet-like characters who speak in '' non-sequiturs''. Language becomes rarefied, with words and material objects gaining a life of their own, increasingly overwhelming the characters and creating a sense of menace.

The full-length plays

With '' Tueur sans gages'' translated as ''The Killer'' (1959; his second full-length play, the first being ''Amédée, ou Comment s'en débarrasser'' in 1954), Ionesco began to explore more sustained dramatic situations featuring more humanized characters. Notably this includes Bérenger, a central character in a number of Ionesco's plays, the last of which is '' Le Piéton de l'air'' translated as ''

''. Bérenger is a semi-autobiographical figure expressing Ionesco's wonderment and anguish at the strangeness of reality. He is comically naïve, engaging the audience's sympathy. In '' The Killer'' he encounters death in the figure of a serial killer. In '' Rhinocéros'' he watches his friends turning into rhinoceroses one by one until he alone stands unchanged against this mass movement. It is in this play that Ionesco most forcefully expresses his horror of ideological conformism, inspired by the rise of the

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

Iron Guard in Romania in the 1930s. ''Le Roi se meurt'' translated as ''

'' (1962) shows him as King Bérenger I, an

everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...

figure who struggles to come to terms with his own death.

Later works

Ionesco's later work has generally received less attention. This includes '' La Soif et la faim'' translated as ''Hunger and Thirst'' (1966), ''Jeux de massacre'' (1971), ''

Macbett ''Macbett'' (1972) is Eugène Ionesco's satire on Shakespeare's '' Macbeth''. Plot Two generals, Macbett and Banco, put down a rebellion. In payment for their heroic service, Archduke Duncan promises to bestow on them land, titles and cash, but ...

'' (1972, a free adaptation of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'') and ''Ce formidable bordel'' (1973). Ionesco also wrote his only novel, '' The Hermit'', during this later period. It was first published in 1975. Apart from the

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

for the opera '' Maximilien Kolbe'' (music by

Dominique Probst Dominique Probst (born 1954) is a French composer. The son of a noted playwright, Gisèle Casadesus, and an actor and director with the Comédie-Française, Lucien Probst, Dominique Probst won the First Prize for Percussion with the National Musi ...

) which has been performed in five countries, produced for television and recorded for release on CD, Ionesco did not write for the stage after ''Voyage chez les morts'' in 1981. However, ''

'' is still playing at th
Théâtre de la Huchette
today, having moved there in 1952. It holds the world record for the play that has been staged continuously in the same theatre for the longest time.

Theoretical writings

Like Shaw and

Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

, Ionesco contributed to the theatre with his theoretical writings (Wellwarth, 33). Ionesco wrote mainly in attempts to correct critics whom he felt misunderstood his work and therefore wrongly influenced his audience. In doing so, Ionesco articulated ways in which he thought contemporary theatre should be reformed (Wellwarth, 33). ''Notes and Counter Notes'' is a collection of Ionesco's writings, including musings on why he chose to write for the theatre and direct responses to his contemporary critics. In the first section, titled "Experience of the Theatre", Ionesco claimed to have hated going to the theatre as a child because it gave him "no pleasure or feeling of participation" (Ionesco, 15). He wrote that the problem with realistic theatre is that it is less interesting than theatre that invokes an "imaginative truth", which he found to be much more interesting and freeing than the "narrow" truth presented by strict realism (Ionesco, 15). He claimed that "drama that relies on simple effects is not necessarily drama simplified" (Ionesco, 28). ''Notes and Counter Notes'' also reprints a heated war of words between Ionesco and

Kenneth Tynan Kenneth Peacock Tynan (2 April 1927 – 26 July 1980) was an English theatre critic and writer. Making his initial impact as a critic at ''The Observer'', he praised Osborne's ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956), and encouraged the emerging wave of ...

based on Ionesco's above stated beliefs and Ionesco's hatred for Brecht and Brechtian theatre.

Literary context

Ionesco is often considered a writer of the

, a label originally given to him by

Martin Esslin , birth_date = , birth_place = Budapest, Austria-Hungary , death_date = , death_place = London, England, UK , education = University of ViennaMax Reinhardt Seminar, ...

in his book of the same name. Esslin, placed Ionesco alongside contemporaries

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

Jean Genet Jean Genet (; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels ''The Thief's ...

, and

Arthur Adamov Arthur Adamov (23 August 1908 – 15 March 1970) was a playwright, one of the foremost exponents of the Theatre of the Absurd. Early life Adamov (originally Adamian) was born in Kislovodsk in the Terek Oblast of the Russian Empire to a wealthy A ...

, calling this informal group "absurd" on the basis of

' concept of the absurd. In his view, Beckett and Ionesco better captured the meaninglessness of existence in their plays than works by Camus or Sartre. Because of this loose association, Ionesco is often mislabeled an existentialist. Ionesco claimed in ''Notes and Counter Notes'' that he was not an existentialist and often criticized existentialist figurehead

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...

. Although Ionesco knew Beckett and honored his work, the French group of playwrights was far from an organized movement. Ionesco on the metaphysics of death in ''Through Parisian Eyes: Reflections on Contemporary French Arts and Culture'' by Melinda Camber Porter: "Death is our main problem and all others are less important. It is the wall and the limit. It is the only inescapable alienation; it gives us a sense of our limits. But the ignorance of ourselves and of others to which we are condemned is just as worrying. In the final analysis, we don't know what we're doing. Nevertheless, in all my work there is an element of hope and an appeal to others." Ionesco claimed instead an affinity for

’Pataphysics Pataphysics (french: 'pataphysique) is a " philosophy" of science invented by French writer Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) intended to be a parody of science. Difficult to be simply defined or pinned down, it has been described as the "science of im ...

and its creator

Alfred Jarry Alfred Jarry (; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French symbolist writer who is best known for his play ''Ubu Roi'' (1896). He also coined the term and philosophical concept of 'pataphysics. Jarry was born in Laval, Mayenne, France, ...

. He was also a great admirer of the

Dadaists Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...

and

Surrealists Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

, especially his fellow countryman

Tristan Tzara Tristan Tzara (; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, comp ...

. Ionesco became friends with the founder of

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...

, whom he revered. In ''Present Past, Past Present'', Ionesco wrote, "Breton taught us to destroy the walls of the real that separate us from reality, to participate in being so as to live as if it were the first day of creation, a day that would every day be the first day of new creations."

, a former associate of Breton and a champion of Ionesco's work, was a member of the Collège de ’Pataphysique and a founder of

Oulipo Oulipo (, short for french: Ouvroir de littérature potentielle; roughly translated: ''"workshop of potential literature"'', stylized ''OuLiPo'') is a loose gathering of (mainly) French-speaking writers and mathematicians who seek to create works ...

, two groups with which Ionesco was associated. Politically, Ionesco expressed sympathy with the left-libertarian

Transnational Radical Party The Transnational Radical Party (TRP), whose official name is Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty (NRPTT), is a political association of citizens, members of parliament and members of government of various national and political ...

Marco Pannella Marco Pannella (born Giacinto Pannella; 2 May 1930 – 19 May 2016) was an Italian politician, journalist and activist. He was well known in his country for his nonviolence and civil rights' campaigns, like the right to divorce, the right to ab ...

Honours and awards

Ionesco was made a member of the

in 1970. He also received numerous awards including Tours Festival Prize for film, 1959; Prix Italia, 1963; Society of Authors Theatre Prize, 1966; Grand Prix National for theatre, 1969; Monaco Grand Prix, 1969;

, 1970;

, 1973; and honorary Doctoral Degrees from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

and the Universities of

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

and

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

. In 1964 he was nominated for the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

Death

Eugène Ionesco died at age 84 on 28 March 1994 and is buried in the

Cimetière du Montparnasse Montparnasse Cemetery (french: link=no, Cimetière du Montparnasse) is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In 2009, the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...

granted posthumous membership to Ionesco.

Theatrical works

Long plays *''

Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It ''Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It'' (french: Amédée ou comment s'en débarrasser) is a play written by Eugène Ionesco in 1954 based on his earlier short story entitled "Oriflamme". Plot The play is about Amédée, a playwright, and his wife ...

'' (1954) * '' The Killer'' (1958) * ''

Rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

'' (1959) * ''

'' (1962) * '' Stroll in the Air'' (1962) * '' Hunger and Thirst'' (1964) * ''The Killing Game'' aka '' Here Comes a Chopper'' (1970) * ''

'' (1972) * '' Oh, What a Bloody Circus'' aka '' A Hell of a Mess'' (1973) * '' Man with Bags'' (1977) * '' Journeys Among the Dead'' (1980) Short plays * ''

'' (1950) * '' Salutations'' (1950) * '' The Lesson'' (1951) * '' The Motor Show'' (1951) * ''

'' (1952) * '' The Leader'' (1953) * '' Victims of Duty'' (1953) * ''

Maid to Marry A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids ...

'' (1953) * '' Jack, or The Submission'' (1955) * '' The New Tenant'' (1955) * '' The Picture'' (1955) * ''

Improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

'' (1956) * '' The Foot of the Wall'' (1956) * ''

The Future is in Eggs, or It Takes All Sorts to Make a World ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (1957) * '' Foursome'' (1959) * '' Frenzy for Two, or More'' (1962) * '' The Oversight'' (1966) Vignettes * '' The Duel'' (1971) * ''

Double Act A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases f ...

'' (1971) Monologue * '' How to Prepare a Hard-Boiled Egg'' (1966) Ballet scenario * ''

Learning to Walk Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and some machines; there is also evidence for some kind of learn ...

'' (1960) Opera libretto * '' Maximilien Kolbe'' (1987)

Other writings

Fiction * '' The Colonel's Photograph and Other Stories'' (1962) * '' The Hermit'' (1973) * '' Stories 1, 2, 3, 4'' (2012) Non-fiction * '' Hugoliad, or The Grotesque and Tragic Life of Victor Hugo'' (1935, published 1982) * '' Notes and Counter-Notes'' (1962) * '' Fragments of a Journal'' (1967) * '' Present Past Past Present'' (1968) Film scenarios * ''Anger'' (1961) * ''La vase (Slime)'' (1971)Film directed by Heinz von Cramer, script by Ionesco at IMDb
/ref> Television scenario * '' The Hard Boiled Egg'' (1966)

Untranslated writings

Non-fiction * ''Nu'' (1934) * ''Antidotes'' (1977) * '' Un homme en question'' (1979) * ''Le blanc et le noir'' (1981) * '' La quête intermittente'' (1987) Plays * '' Le vicomte'' (1950) * '' La nièce-épouse'' (1953) * '' Exercices de conversation et de diction françaises pour étudiants américains'' (1966) Ballet scenario * '' Le jeune homme à marier'' (1966) Poetry * '' Elegii pentru ființe mici'' (1931)

References

External links

Official Site
*

Eugene Ionesco and Russian dramatist Mikhail Volokhov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ionesco, Eugene 1909 births 1994 deaths Anti-natalists People from Slatina, Romania Carol I National College alumni 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Romanian dramatists and playwrights French people of Romanian descent Romanian people of Greek descent French people of Greek descent Romanian people of French descent French literary critics Members of the Académie Française Members of the Romanian Academy elected posthumously Pataphysicians Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Romanian writers in French Saint Sava National College alumni Theatre of the Absurd University of Bucharest alumni Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery Jerusalem Prize recipients Romanian expatriates in France