Eugene Ionesco 11-26-1909 through 5-28-1994

Eugene Ionesco’s Life Ionesco was born on November 26th, 1909 in Slatina, Romania, to a Romanian father and a French mother. He then spent his childhood in France, and went to Romania for his early teen years.

Education Ionesco studied French Literature at the University of Bucharest

Historical Influlences According to an article from Huffington Post: “Staged all over the world during the 60s and 70s, Ionesco’s plays were once among the most performed works in the theatrical repertoire. With his plays The Bald Soprano, The Lesson, and The Chair he helped inaugurate a new type of theater which came to be known as “theater of the absurd.”

Ionesco’s most noted plays Rhinoceros (1959) The Lesson (1951) The Chairs (1952) The Bald Soprano(1950)

Awards Austrian State Prize for European Literature (1970) Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the In… (1973)

Description of Playwright’s Typical Style An absurdist style, according to Huffington Post: “The problem they dealt with was “the existential condition of man, his despair the tragedy of his destiny, the absurdity of his destiny, the existence of God.”

Overview of the Time Period Many historical events occurred during the life of Eugene Ionesco, including: World War I, Peace Treaty of Versailles, and World War II. According to the BBC website, in 1951, "France joins West Germany and other European nations in the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) - leading to the formation in 1957 of the European Economic Community (EEC)

Common Themes of the Author and their description Eugene Ionesco's writing style is bizarre and can be difficult to follow, and yet was so unique that it broke the traditional system of play writing, providing a new style. According to the Britannica website, "Ionesco's achievement lies in having popularized a wide variety of nonpresentational and surrealistic techniques and in having made them acceptable to audiences conditioned to a naturalistic convention in the theatre. His tragicomic farces dramatize the absurdity of bourgeois life, the meaninglessness of social conventions, and the futile and mechanical nature of modern civilization." 

Famous Scene from The Bald Soprano According to the Britannica website: in Ionesco's play The Bald Soprano : "In its most famous scene, two strangers-who are exchanging banalities about how the weather is faring, where they live, and how many children they have-stumble upon the astonishing discovery that they are indeed man and wife; it is a brilliant example of Ionesco's recurrent themes of self-estrangement and the difficulty of communication."

Unique vocabulary of the era Bicorned: having two horns or horn-shaped parts Syllogism: logical formula consisting of a major premise, a minor premise and a conclusion; deceptive or specious argument capitulation: the act of surrendering misanthropic: hating mankind quinsy: inflammation of the throat effete: worn out; barren

Information on The Bald Soprano Works Cited ?The Bald Soprano Summary.? Enotes.com, Enotes.com, www.enotes.com/topics/bald-soprano. Information on The Bald Soprano Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. ?Eugène Ionesco.? Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 3 Mar. 2017, www.britannica.com/biography/Eugene-Ionesco. Eugene Ionesco information ?EUGENE IONESCO.? Eugene Ionesco, www.theatrehistory.com/misc/eugene_ionesco_001.html. Diving into Eugene Ionesco information Mills, Ian C., and Wharton Group. ?EUGENE IONESCO - French Dramatist.? Biography of Eugene Ionesco - French Dramatist, www.discoverfrance.net/France/Theatre/Ionesco/ionesco.shtml. Eugene Ionesco’s path ?France Timeline.? BBC News, BBC, 5 June 2012, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/999717.stm. What was going on in France Google Search, Google, www.google.com/search?q=did%2Beugene%2Bionesco%2Bwin%2Bany%2Bawards&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-US%3AIE-Address&ie=&oe=&gws_rd=ssl. Using google for research

Eugene Ionesco’s life​ ​ Ionesco, Eugene. ?Eugene Ionesco Biography | List of Works, Study Guides & Essays.? GradeSaver: Getting You the Grade, www.gradesaver.com/author/eugene-ionesco.​ Eugene Ionesco’s life​ ​ Kraft, Barbara. ?A Conversation With Eugene Ionesco.? The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 May 2013, www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-kraft/a-conversation-with-eugene-ionseco_b_3288112.html.​ More about Eugene Ionesco​ ?Central University Library, Bucharest.? Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Mar. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_University_Library,_Bucharest.​ Picture of the university​ ?Universitatea Din Bucuresti ? UB-DSES (Romania).? Universitatea Din Bucuresti ? UB-DSES (Romania) | Openness Project, www.openness-project.eu/node/67.​ Picture of the university logo​ Ionesco, Eugène. Rhinoceros, And Other Plays. Grove, 1960.​ Book including some of Ionesco’s work​ The Bald Soprano, www.harryfeinertheatredesign.com/sopranopearl.html.​ Picture of the set​ Kongyoo, Slynrya. “By Me :).” Pinterest, 18 Apr. 2016, www.pinterest.com/pin/294915475580280840/.​ Pictures of the set ​ “Theatre Design.” Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/pin/294915475580280948/.​ Picture of the set and costumes ​