Eugène Ionesco

Eugène Ionesco, born Eugen Ionescu on November 26, 1909, was one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the absurd. Beyond ridiculing the most banal situations, Ionesco's plays depict in a tangible way the solitude of humans and the insignificance of one's existence.

Biographical information

Ionesco was born in 1909 in Slatina, Romania, to a Romanian father and a French mother. Many sources cite his birthdate as 1912, this error being due to vanity on the part of Ionesco himself (see ) to wit, Eugène Ionesco's Life at www.ionesco.org. He spent most of his childhood in France, but returned to Romania with his father in 1925 after his parents divorced. There he studied French Literature at the University of Bucharest from 1928 to 1933 and qualified as a teacher of French. While there he met Emil Cioran and Mircea Eliade, and the three became lifelong friends.

Related Topics:
1909 - Slatina, Romania - Romania - French - 1912 - 1925 - French Literature - University of Bucharest - 1928 - 1933 - French - Emil Cioran - Mircea Eliade

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In 1936 Ionesco married Rodica Burileanu. Together they had one daughter for whom he wrote a number of unconventional children's stories. He and his family returned to France in 1938 for him to complete his doctoral thesis. Caught by the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he remained there, living in Marseilles during the war before moving with his family to Paris after its liberation in 1944.

Related Topics:
1936 - 1938 - World War II - 1939 - Marseille - 1944

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In 1967 Ionesco made a visit to Israel and in the second volume of his autobiography he affirmed his Jewish origins.

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Ionesco was made a member of the Académie française in 1970 (see ) and his accession speech was in French. 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; Austrian State Prize for European Literature, 1970; Jerusalem Prize, 1973; and honorary doctorates from New York University and the universities of Leuven (Belgium), Warwick (England), and Tel Aviv (Israel).

Related Topics:
Académie française - 1970 - 1959 - 1963 - 1966 - 1969 - 1973 - Leuven - Belgium - Warwick - England - Tel Aviv - Israel

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He died at 84 on March 29, 1994, and is buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris, France.

Related Topics:
March 29 - 1994 - Cimetière du Montparnasse - Paris, France

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Although Ionesco wrote almost entirely in French, he is one of the Rumanian people's most honored artists. There is much resentment over what could be called the France's "adoption" of him, specifically the fact that most of the world knows him as Eugène Ionesco, rather than his birth name and name in his native Romanian language, Eugen Ionescu.

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