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Absurd Rhinoceros
Absurd Rhinoceros
Eugene Ionesco’s
Rhinoceros
Eugene Ionesco (1909-1994)
• b. Romania, near Bucharest, raised Paris
• Father a lawyer, back to Romania during WWI
• 1922 return Romania to his father, now remarried
• 1928 debut as poet; degree in French 1933; continued poetry,
reviews, literary criticism
• 1936 married; 1938 back to Paris
• 1945 worked in publishing house in Paris
• 1948 begins writing plays (Bald Soprano)
• Pataphysics – science of imaginary solutions w/ other artists; he
acts and writes with them
• Became a French citizen (50) and member French Academy (70)
• Leading figure of literary avant-garde
• Activist for human rights, esp in Romania
“It seemed to me that {people} allow themselves to live, as it were,
unconsciously. Perhaps it's because everyone, all the others, are
convinced in some unformulated, irrational way that one day everything
will be made clear. Perhaps there will be a morning of grace for humanity.
Perhaps there will be a morning of grace for me.” (Hermit, 1973)
I’m pot -bellied, dumpy, small, I’ve short legs. I’m a peasant from the
Danube, as I’ve said.” (Critical Inquiry, 1975)
“I don’t know if you have noticed it, but when people no longer share
your opinions, when you can no longer make yourself understood by
them, one has the impression of being confronted with monsters,
rhinos, for instance. They have that mixture of candour and ferocity.
They would kill you with the best of consciences.” (Le monde 1960)
Ionesco
Pot-bellied, dumpy, small ….
Rhinoceros, 1959
• Ionesco’s response to fascism; the terror of brute
force becomes “beauty”
• The struggle of one man to keep integrity (see
Miller’s essay on common man tragedy)
• BBC radio 1st production (on heels of debate over
realism w/ Kenneth Tynan)
• Staged 1960 at Odéon in Paris by Barrault and
Orson Welles directed at Royal Court, London
• 1962 Martin Esslin’s Theatre of the Absurd names
Beckett, Ionesco, Genet, Adamov, Pinter
“absurdists” – defines new anti-realism trend
Theatre of the Absurd
• Term from Camus’ Myth of Sisyphus, 1942; out of
harmony, but “one must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
• “If the world were clear, art would not exist.”
• Esslin says the authors all face the senselessness of
human existence and the inadequacy of rational
explanations (philosophy, religion, literature).
• Absurd in this case means devoid of purpose
• Among the absurdists, Ionesco deals more with
social situations than individual, ethical choices
that have ramifications
Sisyphus
Dramaturgy of Absurd
• Plot: logical development would be antithetical;
exposition is lacking; rarely a climax. Circular structure is
common.
• Characters: often devoid of history except as defined in
stage actions. Often trapped in meaningless situations.
Often can’t communicate effectively. Find meaning in
absurd actions, relationships, social gestures.
• Theme: dramatic symbols often dominate all other
elements. Background image, anyone?
• Language: devolves into cliché or routine; rhythm and
sound may overtake denotative meaning
• Spectacle: stage use, objects, relationship to audience
commonly symbolic and address audience as such
Locations
• Quaint French village; Act 1 very idealized
• I:I Village with restaurant, grocery, street.
Sunday, noon, summer
• I:ii Law publishing office. Next morning
• II Jean’s room, Monday afternoon
• III Berenger’s room, a few days later