Understanding Eugene Ionesco 0872499812

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Eugene

IONESCO

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA PRESS

UNDERSTANDING EUGENE IONESCO

UNDERSTANDING MODERN EUROPEAN AND LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE James Hardin, Series Editor ADVISORY BOARD George C. Schoolfield Yale University

Charles Porter Yale University

Theodore Ziolkowski Princeton University

Roberto Gonzalez-Echevarria Yale University Sara Castro-Klan~n The Johns Hopkins University

Michael Winkler Rice University Understanding Gunter Grass by Alan Frank Keele Understanding Graciliano Ramos by Celso Lemos de Oliveira Understanding Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Kathleen McNerney Understanding Claude Simon by Ralph Sarkonak Understanding Mario Vargas Llosa by Sara Castro-Klarl~n Understanding Samuel Beckett by Alan Astro Understanding Jean-Paul Sartre by Philip R. Wood

Understanding Elias Canetti by Richard H. Lawson Understanding Thomas Bernhard by Stephen D. Dowden Understanding Heinrich Boll by Robert C. Conard Understanding Celine by Philip H. Solomon Understanding Gerhart Hauptmann by Warren R. Maurer Understanding Jose Donoso by Sharon Magnarelli Understanding Milan Kundera by Fred Misurella

Understanding Albert Camus by David R. Ellison

Understanding Italo Calvino by Benno Weiss

Understanding Max Frisch by Wulf Koepke

Understanding Franz Werfel by Hans Wagener

Understanding Erich Maria Remarque by Hans Wagener

Understanding Peter Weiss by Robert Cohen

Understanding Eugene Ionesco by Nancy Lane

Copyright © 1994 University of South Carolina Published in Columbia, South Carolina, by the University of South Carolina Press Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lane, Nancy, 1947Understanding Eugene Ionesco / Nancy Lane. p. cm. - (Understanding modern European and Latin American literature) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-87249-981-2 1. Ionesco, Eugene-Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. II. Series. PQ2617.06Z743 1993 842' .914-dc20 93-42291

For Kay McFarland

CONTENTS Editor's Preface Chronology

viii x

A Note on Citations and Translations

XIV

Chapter 1:

Introduction

Chapter 2:

Theater of the Absurd: The Bald Soprano and The Lesson

Chapter 3:

Chapter 4:

1 27

Guilt and Proliferation: The Chairs, Victims of Duty, and Amedee 48 Ionesco and the Critics: Improvisation 88 Humanized Theater: The Berenger Cycle

Chapter 5:

99

Chapter 6:

A Theater in Search of Itself: Hunger and Thirst, The Killing Game, and Macbett 150

Chapter 7:

Dream Work: A Hell of a Mess!, Man with Bags, and Journeys Among the Dead 181

Chapter 8:

Other Works and Conclusion

Select Bibliography Index

233

218

212

EDITOR1S PREFACE

Understanding Modern European and Latin American Literature has been planned as a series of guides for undergraduate and graduate students and nonacademic readers. Like the volumes in its companion series, Understanding Contemporary American Literature, these books provide introductions to the lives and writings of prominent modern authors and explicate their most important works. Modern literature makes special demands, and this is particularly true of foreign literature, in which the reader must contend not only with unfamiliar, often arcane artistic conventions and philosophical concepts, but also with the handicap of reading the literature in translation. It is a truism that the nuances of one language can be rendered in another only imperfectly (and this problem is especially acute in fiction), and the fact that the works of European and Latin American writers are situated in a historical and cultural setting quite different from our own can be as great a hindrance to the understanding of these works as the linguistic barrier. For this reason, the UMELL series emphasizes the sociological and historical backgrounds of the writers treated. The peculiar philosophical and cultural traditions of a given culture may be particularly important for an understanding of certain authors, and these are taken up in the introductory chapter and also in the discussion of those works to which this information is relevant. Beyond this, the books treat the specifically literary aspects of the author under discussion and attempt to explain the complexities of contemporary literature lucidly. The books

viii

EDITOR'S PREFACE

are conceived as introductions to the authors covered, not as comprehensive analyses. They do not provide detailed summaries of plot because they are meant to be used in conjunction with the books they treat, not as a substitute for study of the original works. The purpose of the books is to provide information and judicious literary assessment of the major works in the most compact, readable form. It is our hope that the UMELL series will help to increase knowledge and understanding of European and Latin American cultures and will serve to make the literature of those cultures more accessible. J.H.

ix

CHRONOLOGY

1909

Born on 26 November in Slatina, Romania. Son of Eugen Ionescu and Therese Ipcar (see chapter 1, note 2).

Sister Marilina born; family moves to Paris. 1911 1912 (1913?) Brother Mircea born; he dies of meningitis at eighteen months.

1916 1917(?)

Father deserts family, returns to Romania. Father marries Helene Buruiana (nicknamed Lola).

1917-1919 1920-1922

Sojourns at La Chapelle-Anthenaise with sister.

1922

Returns to Bucharest to live with father and stepmother.

1926 1928 1929 1930 1931

Leaves father's home.

Lives in Paris with mother and grandparents; discovers literature and writes first plays.

Finishes secondary school (Lycee Saint-Sava). Enrolls in Bucharest University. Publishes first article in magazine Zodiac. Publishes Elegii pentru fiinte mici (Elegies for Minuscule Beings, a volume of poetry).

1932-1935

Contributes to Azi, Viata literara, and other literary magazines; military service.

1934

Receives degree (Capacitate) from University of Bucharest; publishes first book, Nu (No) (essays). x

CHRONOLOGY

1936 1936-1938

Marries Rodica Burileanu; death of mother. Works as French teacher in Cernavada, then at orthodox seminaries; becomes literary critic for magazine Facia.

1939 1940-1941

Leaves Romania and arrives in Paris with wife.

1942-1944

Lives in Marseille during war; premature birth of daughter Marie-France (26 August 1944), in Vichy.

1945 1945-1950

Returns to Paris, rue Claude Terrasse.

Brief return to Romania; efforts to return to France.

Works as proofreader, translator, and free-lance writer; death of father (1948).

1950 1951 1952 1953 1954

Premiere of The Bald Soprano (written 1948).

1955

Premiere of Jack, or The Submission (written 1950); premiere (in Swedish) of The New Tenant (written 1953).

1956

Premiere of Improl'isation, or The Shepherd's Chameleon (written 1955).

1957

French premiere of The New Tenant; premiere of The Future is in Eggs (written 1951).

1958 1959

London Controversy.

1960 1961

Premiere of The Lesson (written 1950). Premiere of The Chairs (written 1951). Premiere of Victims of Duty (written 1952). Premiere of Amedee, or How to Get Rid of it (written 1953).

World premiere of Rhinoceros (in German) (written 1958); premiere of The Killer (written 1957). French premiere of Rhinoceros. Writes scenario Anger for Sylvain Dhomme's segment of 1962 film Les Sept peches capitaux; named "Chevalier des arts et lettres."

Xl

CHRONOLOGY

1962

Premiere of Exit the King (written 1962); Notes et Contre-notes (Notes and Counter Notes); La Photo du colonel (The Colonel's Photograph); world premiere (in German, at DusseldorD of A Stroll in the Air.

1963

French premiere of A Stroll in the Air at Odeon (national theater).

1964

World premiere of Hunger and Thirst at Dusseldorf (30 December).

1966

French premiere of Hunger and Thirst at Comedie fran