130-565: Eugène Ionesco ( French: [øʒɛn jɔnɛsko] ; born Eugen Ionescu , Romanian: [e.uˈdʒen joˈnesku] ; 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 which contributed to
260-403: A Saint Nicholas (patron saint of the student clercs) play and a Saint Stephen play. Dramatic plays in French from the 12th and 13th centuries: The origins of farce and comic theatre remain equally controversial; some −literary historians believe in a non-liturgical origin (among "jongleurs" or in pagan and folk festivals), others see
390-590: A crucifix or priest. In his will, he made the same stipulation about his own death and funeral. Yet he believed in life after death and prayed every single morning and night, convinced as he wrote in The Man Who Laughs that "Thanksgiving has wings and flies to its right destination. Your prayer knows its way better than you do." Hugo's rationalism can be found in poems such as Torquemada (1869, about religious fanaticism ), The Pope (1878, anti-clerical ), Religions and Religion (1880, denying
520-456: A Catholic and professed respect for Church hierarchy and authority. From there he became a non-practising Catholic and increasingly expressed anti-Catholic and anti-clerical views. He frequented spiritism during his exile (where he participated also in many séances conducted by Madame Delphine de Girardin ) and in later years settled into a rationalist deism similar to that espoused by Voltaire . A census-taker asked Hugo in 1872 if he
650-596: A Condemned Man published in 1829 analyses the pangs of a man awaiting execution; several entries in Things Seen ( Choses vues ), the diary he kept between 1830 and 1885, convey his firm condemnation of what he regarded as a barbaric sentence; on 15 September 1848, seven months after the Revolution of 1848 , he delivered a speech before the Assembly and concluded, "You have overthrown the throne. ... Now overthrow
780-485: A Neo-Latin theatre (in Latin) written by professors such as George Buchanan and Marc Antoine Muret which would leave a profound mark on the members of La Pléiade . From 1550 on, one finds humanist theatre written in French. Prominent figures such as Catherine de' Medici provided financial support for many humanist plays; in 1554, for example, she commissioned a translation of Gian Giorgio Trissino ’s La Sofonisba , which
910-606: A bad example no longer.... The United States must renounce slavery, or they must renounce liberty." In 1859, he wrote a letter asking the United States government, for the sake of their own reputation in the future, to spare abolitionist John Brown's life, Hugo justified Brown's actions by these words: "Assuredly, if insurrection is ever a sacred duty, it must be when it is directed against Slavery." Hugo agreed to diffuse and sell one of his best known drawings, "Le Pendu", an homage to John Brown, so one could "keep alive in souls
1040-501: A banquet to celebrate the abolition of slavery, in the presence of the French abolitionist writer and parliamentarian Victor Schœlcher, Hugo declared that the Mediterranean Sea formed a natural divide between "ultimate civilisation and ... utter barbarism." Hugo declared that "God offers Africa to Europe. Take it" and "in the nineteenth century the white man made a man out of the black, in the twentieth century Europe will make
1170-479: 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 '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,
1300-544: A central role in the publishing and interpretation of classical dramatic theory, and their works had a major effect on French theatre. Lodovico Castelvetro 's Aristote-based Art of Poetry (1570) was one of the first enunciations of the three unities ; this work would inform Jean de la Taille 's Art de la tragedie (1572). Italian theatre (like the tragedy of Gian Giorgio Trissino ) and debates on decorum (like those provoked by Sperone Speroni 's play Canace and Giovanni Battista Giraldi 's play Orbecche ) would also influence
1430-412: A comic prologue, then a tragedy or tragicomedy, then a farce and finally a song. Nobles sometimes sat on the side of the stage during the performance. Given that it was impossible to lower the house lights, the audience was always aware of each other and spectators were notably vocal during performances. The place directly in front of the stage, without seats—the "parterre"—was reserved for men, but being
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#17327722114171560-474: A comrade of General Hugo's during the campaign in Vendee. In October 1807, the family rejoined Leopold, now Colonel Hugo, Governor of the province of Avellino . There, Hugo was taught mathematics by Giuseppe de Samuele Cagnazzi , elder brother of Italian scientist Luca de Samuele Cagnazzi . Sophie found out that Leopold had been living in secret with an Englishwoman called Catherine Thomas. Soon, Hugo's father
1690-414: A free adaptation of Shakespeare 's Macbeth ) 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 for the opera Maximilien Kolbe (music by Dominique Probst ) which has been performed in five countries, produced for television and recorded for release on CD, Ionesco did not write for
1820-693: A great source of inspiration for musicians, stirring them to create not only opera and ballet but musical theatre such as Notre-Dame de Paris and the ever-popular Les Misérables , London West End 's longest running musical. Additionally, Hugo's poems have attracted an exceptional amount of interest from musicians, and numerous melodies have been based on his poetry by composers such as Berlioz , Bizet , Fauré , Franck , Lalo , Liszt , Massenet , Saint-Saëns , Rachmaninoff , and Wagner . Today, Hugo's work continues to stimulate musicians to create new compositions. For example, Hugo's novel against capital punishment, The Last Day of
1950-572: A guild system. The guild "les Confrères de la Passion " had exclusive rights to theatrical productions of mystery plays in Paris; in 1548, fear of violence or blasphemy resulting from the growing religious rift in France forced the Paris Parliament to prohibit performances of the mysteries in the capital, although they continued to be performed in other places. By the end of the century, only
2080-482: A journey from Lunéville to Besançon. "This elevated origin," he went on, "seems to have had effects on you so that your muse is now continually sublime." Hugo believed himself to have been conceived on 24 June 1801, which is the origin of Jean Valjean 's prisoner number 24601 . In 1810, Hugo's father was made Count Hugo de Cogolludo y Sigüenza by then King of Spain Joseph Bonaparte , though it seems that
2210-493: A letter to a friend that, thanks to Liszt's piano lessons, he learned how to play a favourite song on the piano – with only one finger. Hugo also worked with composer Louise Bertin , writing the libretto for her 1836 opera La Esmeralda , which was based on the character in The Hunchback of Notre Dame . Although for various reasons the opera closed soon after its fifth performance and is little known today, it has enjoyed
2340-400: A life of their own, increasingly overwhelming the characters and creating a sense of menace. 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
2470-473: A lower style of language than tragedy; comedy does not paint the great events of states and leaders, but the private lives of people, and its principle subject is love. Although some French authors kept close to the ancient models ( Pierre de Ronsard translated a part of Aristophanes 's "Plutus" at college), on the whole the French comedic tradition shows a great deal of borrowing from all sources: medieval farce (which continued to be immensely popular throughout
2600-696: A mentor to Hugo and his brothers. In 1811, the family joined their father in Spain. Hugo and his brothers were sent to school in Madrid at the Real Colegio de San Antonio de Abad while Sophie returned to Paris on her own, now officially separated from her husband. In 1812, as the Peninsular War was turning against France, de La Horie was arrested and executed. In February 1815, Hugo and Eugène were taken away from their mother and placed by their father in
2730-526: A modern revival, both in a piano/song concert version by Liszt at the Festival international Victor Hugo et Égaux 2007 and in a full orchestral version presented in July 2008 at Le Festival de Radio France et Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon . He was also on friendly terms with Frederic Chopin . He introduced him to George Sand who would be his lover for years. In 1849, Hugo attended Chopin's funeral. On
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#17327722114172860-550: A number of Ionesco's plays, the last of which is Le Piéton de l'air translated as A Stroll in the Air . 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
2990-564: A number of plays close to the traditional mystery and morality play. As early as 1503 however, original language versions of Sophocles , Seneca , Euripides , Aristophanes , Terence and Plautus were all available in Europe and the next 40 years would see humanists and poets both translating these classics and adapting them. In the 1540s, the French university setting (and especially—from 1553 on—the Jesuit colleges) became host to
3120-488: A periodical called Le Conservateur littéraire . Hugo published his first novel ( Hans of Iceland , 1823) the year following his marriage, and his second three years later ( Bug-Jargal , 1826). Between 1829 and 1840, he published five more volumes of poetry: Les Orientales , 1829; Les Feuilles d'automne , 1831; Les Chants du crépuscule [ fr ] , 1835; Les Voix intérieures , 1837; and Les Rayons et les Ombres , 1840. This cemented his reputation as one of
3250-788: A play, La Cantatrice Chauve , which was performed for the first time in 1950 under the direction of Nicolas Bataille . It was far from a success and went unnoticed until a few established writers and critics, among them Jean Anouilh and Raymond Queneau , championed the play. Ionesco's earliest theatrical works, considered to be his most innovative, were one-act plays or extended sketches: La Cantatrice chauve translated as The Bald Soprano 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 The Chairs (1951), L'Avenir est dans les oeufs translated as The Future
3380-458: A playwright grew with subsequent plays, such as Marion Delorme (1831), Le roi s'amuse (1832), and Ruy Blas (1838). Hugo's novel Notre-Dame de Paris ( The Hunchback of Notre-Dame ) was published in 1831 and quickly translated into other languages across Europe. One of the effects of the novel was to shame the City of Paris into restoring the much neglected Cathedral of Notre Dame , which
3510-578: A precursor to his great work on social injustice, Les Misérables . Hugo became the figurehead of the Romantic literary movement with the plays Cromwell (1827) and Hernani (1830). Hernani announced the arrival of French romanticism: performed at the Comédie-Française , it was greeted with several nights of rioting as romantics and traditionalists clashed over the play's deliberate disregard for neo-classical rules. Hugo's popularity as
3640-538: A strong impact there. He also composed or published some of his best work during his period in Guernsey , including Les Misérables , and three widely praised collections of poetry ( Les Châtiments , 1853; Les Contemplations , 1856; and La Légende des siècles , 1859). However, Víctor Hugo said in Les Misérables: The wretched moral character of Thénardier, the frustrated bourgeois,
3770-572: A superior unity and constitute a European fraternity, just as Normandy , Brittany , Burgundy , Lorraine , have been blended into France", this new state would be administered by "a great Sovereign senate which will be to Europe what the Parliament is to England". Because of his concern for the rights of artists and copyright , he was a founding member of the Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale , which led to
3900-596: A variety of genres and forms. His most famous works are the novels The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862). In France, Hugo is renowned for his poetry collections, such as Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles ( The Legend of the Ages ). Hugo was at the forefront of the Romantic literary movement with his play Cromwell and drama Hernani . His works have inspired music, both during his lifetime and after his death, including
4030-417: A vowel other than a mute e, or in a consonant or a nasal) rhymes. French theatre from the 17th century is often reduced to three great names— Pierre Corneille , Molière and Jean Racine —and to the triumph of "classicism"; the truth is however far more complicated. Theatre at the beginning of the century was dominated by the genres and dramatists of the previous generation. Most influential in this respect
Eugène Ionesco - Misplaced Pages Continue
4160-450: A white-washed provincial village under an intense blue sky, [Ionesco] was 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
4290-726: A world beyond ( A Stroll in the Air ); characters granted the ability to fly ( A Stroll in the Air , Amédée , 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 ). He returned to Romania with his father and mother in 1925 after his parents divorced. There he attended Saint Sava National College, after which he studied French Literature at
4420-592: A world out of Africa". This might partly explain why in spite of his deep interest and involvement in political matters he remained silent on the Algerian issue. He knew about the atrocities committed by the French Army during the French conquest of Algeria as evidenced by his diary but he never denounced them publicly; however, in Les Misérables , Hugo wrote: "Algeria too harshly conquered, and, as in
4550-461: 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
4680-399: Is extremely close to the ancient model: the prologue is introduced by a shade, there is a classical chorus which comments on the action and talks directly to the characters, and the tragic ending is described by a messenger. Mellin de Saint-Gelais 's translation of Gian Giorgio Trissino 's La Sophonisbe —the first modern regular tragedy based on ancient models which tells the story of
4810-511: 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 comic force, parodying the conformism of
4940-569: Is in this play that Ionesco most forcefully expresses his horror of ideological conformism, inspired by the rise of the fascist Iron Guard in Romania in the 1930s. Le Roi se meurt translated as Exit the King (1962) shows him as King Bérenger I, an everyman figure who struggles to come to terms with his own death. 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 (1972,
5070-486: 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 based on Ionesco's beliefs and Ionesco's hatred for Brecht and Brechtian theatre. Ionesco
5200-670: Is often considered a writer of the Theatre of the Absurd , a label originally given to him by Martin Esslin in his book of the same name. Esslin, placed Ionesco alongside contemporaries Samuel Beckett , Jean Genet , and Arthur Adamov , calling this informal group "absurd" on the basis of Albert Camus ' concept of the absurd. In Esslin's 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
5330-598: 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 . 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
Eugène Ionesco - Misplaced Pages Continue
5460-480: 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 and its creator Alfred Jarry . He
5590-423: Is that this book is going to be one of the peaks, if not the crowning point of my work." Publication of Les Misérables went to the highest bidder. The Belgian publishing house Lacroix and Verboeckhoven undertook a marketing campaign unusual for the time, issuing press releases about the work a full six months before the launch. It also initially published only the first part of the novel (" Fantine "), which
5720-578: The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works . However, in Pauvert 's published archives, he states strongly that "any work of art has two authors: the people who confusingly feel something, a creator who translates these feelings, and the people again who consecrate his vision of that feeling. When one of the authors dies, the rights should totally be granted back to
5850-614: The Orthodox Christian church. His mother was of French and Romanian heritage. According to some sources, her faith was Protestant (the faith into which her father was born and to which her originally Greek Orthodox Christian mother had converted). According to other sources his mother was Jewish; however, this has been contested by his niece. Eugène was baptized into the Orthodox Christian faith. Many sources cite his birthdate as 1912, this error being due to vanity on
5980-489: The "Clercs de la Basoche" who also performed morality plays. Like the "Confrères de la Passion", "la Basoche " came under political scrutiny (plays had to be authorized by a review board; masks or characters depicting living persons were not permitted), and they were finally suppressed in 1582. Alongside the numerous writers of these traditional works (such as the farce writers Pierre Gringore , Nicolas de La Chesnaye and André de la Vigne ), Marguerite de Navarre also wrote
6110-478: The "Confrères de la Passion" remained with exclusive control over public theatrical productions in Paris, and they rented out their theatre at the Hôtel de Bourgogne to theatrical troupes for a high price. In 1597, this guild abandoned its privilege which permitted other theatres and theatrical companies to eventually open in the capital. Another guild, the "Enfants Sans-Souci" was in charge of farces and soties, as too
6240-601: The 13th century in Hermann the German's Latin translation of Averroes ' Arabic gloss, and other translations of the Poetics had appeared in the first half of the 16th century; also of importance were the commentaries on Aristotle's poetics by Julius Caesar Scaliger which appeared in the 1560s. The fourth century grammarians Diomedes and Aelius Donatus were also a source of classical theory. The sixteenth century Italians played
6370-403: The 15th century, Renaissance Italy had developed a form of humanist Latin comedy. Although the ancients had been less theoretical about the comedic form, the humanists used the precepts of Aelius Donatus (4th century AD), Horace , Aristotle and the works of Terence to elaborate a set of rules: comedy should seek to correct vice by showing the truth; there should be a happy ending; comedy uses
6500-499: The Bagne in 1839 and took extensive notes, though he did not start writing the book until 1845. On one of the pages of his notes about the prison, he wrote in large block letters a possible name for his hero: "JEAN TRÉJEAN". When the book was finally written, Tréjean became Jean Valjean . Hugo was acutely aware of the quality of the novel, as evidenced in a letter he wrote to his publisher, Albert Lacroix, on 23 March 1862: "My conviction
6630-636: The Commune subjected to brutal repression. He had been in Brussels since 22 March 1871 when in the 27 May issue of the Belgian newspaper l’Indépendance Victor Hugo denounced the government's refusal to grant political asylum to the Communards threatened with imprisonment, banishment or execution. This caused so much uproar that in the evening a mob of fifty to sixty men attempted to force their way into
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#17327722114176760-401: The French tradition. In the same spirit of imitation—and adaptation—of classical sources that had informed the poetic compositions of La Pléiade , French humanist writers recommended that tragedy should be in five acts and have three main characters of noble rank; the play should begin in the middle of the action ( in medias res ), use noble language and not show scenes of horror on
6890-459: The Italian commedia dell'arte . Jean Rotrou and Pierre Corneille would return to the regular comedy shortly before 1630. Corneille's tragedies were strangely un-tragic (his first version of "Le Cid" was even listed as a tragicomedy), for they had happy endings. In his theoretical works on theatre, Corneille redefined both comedy and tragedy around the following suppositions: The history of
7020-537: The Middle Ages in France: French theatre in the 16th-century followed the same patterns of evolution as the other literary genres of the period. For the first decades of the century, public theatre remained largely tied to its long medieval heritage of mystery plays , morality plays , farces , and soties , although the miracle play was no longer in vogue. Public performances were tightly controlled by
7150-549: The Pension Cordier, a private boarding school in Paris, where Hugo and Eugène remained for three years while also attending lectures at Lycée Louis le Grand. On 10 July 1816, Hugo wrote in his diary: "I shall be Chateaubriand or nothing." In 1817, he wrote a poem for a competition organised by the Academie Française , for which he received an honorable mention. The Academicians refused to believe that he
7280-656: The Republic. Hugo's mother Sophie was loyal to the deposed dynasty but would declare her children to be Protestants. They met in Châteaubriant in 1796 and married the following year. Since Hugo's father was an officer in Napoleon's army, the family moved frequently from posting to posting. Léopold Hugo wrote to his son that he had been conceived on one of the highest peaks in the Vosges Mountains , on
7410-485: The Spanish title was not legally recognized in France. Hugo later titled himself as a viscount, and it was as "Vicomte Victor Hugo" that he was appointed a peer of France on 13 April 1845. Weary of the constant moving required by military life, Sophie separated temporarily from Léopold and settled in Paris in 1803 with her sons. There, she began seeing General Victor Fanneau de La Horie , Hugo's godfather, who had been
7540-898: The Universities of Leuven , Warwick and Tel Aviv . He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature eight times. Eugène Ionesco died at age 84 on 28 March 1994 and is buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris. In 2009, the Romanian Academy granted posthumous membership to Ionesco. Long plays Short plays Vignettes Monologue Ballet scenario Opera libretto Fiction Non-fiction Film scenarios Television scenario Non-fiction Plays Ballet scenario Poetry French avant-garde theatre#Avant-garde An overview of
7670-480: 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. In 1936, Ionesco married Rodica Burileanu. 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 to complete his doctoral thesis. Caught by
7800-723: The Upper Chamber of Parliament as a pair de France in 1845, where he spoke against the death penalty and social injustice , and in favour of freedom of the press and self-government for Poland. In 1848, Hugo was elected to the National Assembly of the Second Republic as a conservative. In 1849, he broke with the conservatives when he gave a noted speech calling for the end of misery and poverty. Other speeches called for universal suffrage and free education for all children. Hugo's advocacy to abolish
7930-673: The abuse of authority, corruption, religious persecution, and the consequences of war. Through vivid and provocative storytelling, these plays sought to engage and incite audiences, encouraging them to reflect upon the turbulent times in which they lived. One notable aspect of militant theater was its use of allegory and symbolism. Playwrights employed metaphors and allegorical characters to represent political figures, religious factions, or ideological movements. This veiled approach allowed them to address sensitive topics while avoiding direct censorship or retribution. The actors and playwrights involved in militant theater faced considerable risks due to
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#17327722114178060-522: The ascetic religious Jansenist movement. Actors typically had fantastic stage names that described typical roles or stereotypical characters. In addition to scripted comedies and tragedies, Parisians were also great fans of the Italian acting troupe who performed their Commedia dell'arte , a kind of improvised theatre based on types. The characters from the Commedia dell'arte would have a profound effect on French theatre, and one finds echoes of them in
8190-419: The audience and to the rhetorical aim of showing moral examples ( exemplum ). Étienne Jodelle 's Cléopâtre captive (1553) tells the impassioned fears and doubts of Cleopatra contemplating suicide — has the distinction of being the first original French play to follow Horace 's classical precepts on structure (the play is in five acts and respects more or less the unities of time, place and action) and
8320-448: The author's name and reflected the acute social conscience that would infuse his later work. Le Dernier jour d'un condamné ( The Last Day of a Condemned Man ) would have a profound influence on later writers such as Albert Camus , Charles Dickens , and Fyodor Dostoyevsky . Claude Gueux, a documentary short story about a real-life murderer who had been executed in France, was published in 1834. Hugo himself later considered it to be
8450-540: The beginnings of what is known as the Theatre of the Absurd , which includes a number of plays that, following the ideas of the philosopher Albert Camus , explore concepts of absurdism and surrealism. He was made a member of the Académie française in 1970, and was awarded the 1970 Austrian State Prize for European Literature , and the 1973 Jerusalem Prize . Ionesco was born in Slatina , Romania. His father belonged to
8580-460: The book. Hugo returned to political and social issues in his next novel, L'Homme Qui Rit ( The Man Who Laughs ), which was published in 1869 and painted a critical picture of the aristocracy. The novel was not as successful as his previous efforts, and Hugo himself began to comment on the growing distance between himself and literary contemporaries such as Flaubert and Émile Zola , whose realist and naturalist novels were now exceeding
8710-436: 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
8840-606: The braggarts, fools, lovers, old men and wily servants that populate French theatre. Opera came to France in the second half of the century. The most important theatres and troupes in Paris: Outside of Paris, in the suburbs and in the provinces, there were many wandering theatrical troupes. Molière got his start in such a troupe. The royal court and other noble houses were also important organizers of theatrical representations, ballets de cour , mock battles and other sorts of "divertissement" for their festivities, and in
8970-541: The case of India by the English, with more barbarism than civilization." After coming in contact with Victor Schœlcher , a writer who fought for the abolition of slavery and French colonialism in the Caribbean, he started strongly campaigning against slavery. In a letter to American abolitionist Maria Weston Chapman , on 6 July 1851, Hugo wrote: "Slavery in the United States! It is the duty of this republic to set such
9100-523: The cause of Romanticism, became involved in politics (though mostly as a champion of Republicanism ), and was forced into exile due to his political stances. Along with Chateaubriand he attended the Coronation of Charles X in Reims in 1825. The precocious passion and eloquence of Hugo's early work brought success and fame at an early age. His first collection of poetry ( Odes et poésies diverses )
9230-410: The century), the short story, Italian humanist comedies and "La Celestina" (by Fernando de Rojas ). Select list of authors and works of Renaissance comedy: In the last decades of the century, four other theatrical modes from Italy — which did not follow the rigid rules of classical theatre – flooded the French stage: By the end of the century, the most influential French playwright—by
9360-511: The cheapest tickets, the parterre was usually a mix of social groups. Elegant people watched the show from the galleries. Princes, musketeers and royal pages were given free entry. Before 1630, an honest woman did not go to the theatre. Unlike England, France placed no restrictions on women performing on stage, but the career of actors of either sex was seen as morally wrong by the Catholic Church (actors were excommunicated ) and by
9490-452: The controversy reveals a growing attempt to control and regulate theatre and theatrical forms. This would be the beginning of seventeenth century "classicism". Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo ( French: [viktɔʁ maʁi yɡo] ; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in
9620-833: The death penalty was renowned internationally. When Louis Napoleon ( Napoleon III ) seized complete power in 1851 , establishing an anti-parliamentary constitution, Hugo openly declared him a traitor to France. He moved to Brussels , then Jersey , from which he was expelled for supporting L’Homme , a local newspaper that had published a letter to Queen Victoria by a French republican deemed treasonous . He finally settled with his family at Hauteville House in Saint Peter Port , Guernsey , where he would live in exile from October 1855 until 1870. While in exile, Hugo published his famous political pamphlets against Napoleon III, Napoléon le Petit and Histoire d'un crime . The pamphlets were banned in France but nonetheless had
9750-414: The debates on Sperone Speroni 's play Canace and Giovanni Battista Giraldi 's play Orbecche ). Regular comedies (i.e. comedies in five acts modeled on Plautus or Terence and the precepts of Aelius Donatus ) were less frequent on the stage than tragedies and tragicomedies at the turn of the century, as the comedic element of the early stage was dominated by the farce, the satirical monologue and by
9880-428: The development of the unity of place). Eventually, theatres would develop systems of elaborate machines and decors, fashionable for the chevaleresque flights of knights found in the tragicomedies of the first half of the century. In the early part of the century, the theatre performances took place twice a week starting at two or three o'clock. Theatrical representations often encompassed several works, beginning with
10010-455: The false worship of language. Ionesco began his theatre career later in life; he did not write his first play until 1948 ( La Cantatrice chauve , first performed in 1950 with the English title The Bald Soprano ). At the age of 40, he decided to learn English using the Assimil method, conscientiously copying whole sentences in order to memorize them. Re-reading them, he began to feel that he
10140-811: The first day of new creations." Raymond Queneau , 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 , two groups with which Ionesco was associated. Politically, Ionesco expressed sympathy with the left-libertarian Transnational Radical Party of Marco Pannella . Ionesco was made a member of the Académie française 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; Austrian State Prize for European Literature , 1970; Jerusalem Prize , 1973; and honorary Doctoral Degrees from New York University and
10270-671: The government. It was only after Napoleon III fell from power and the Third Republic was proclaimed that Hugo finally returned to his homeland in 1870, where he was promptly elected to the National Assembly and the Senate. He was in Paris during the siege by the Prussian Army in 1870 , famously eating animals given to him by the Paris Zoo. As the siege continued, and food became ever more scarce, he wrote in his diary that he
10400-474: The greatest elegiac and lyric poets of his time. Like many young writers of his generation, Hugo was profoundly influenced by François-René de Chateaubriand , the famous figure in the literary movement of Romanticism and France's pre-eminent literary figure during the early 19th century. In his youth, Hugo resolved to be " Chateaubriand or nothing", and his life would come to parallel that of his predecessor in many ways. Like Chateaubriand , Hugo furthered
10530-580: The groundwork for the development of subsequent forms of political and socially conscious theater, leaving a lasting impact on the theatrical landscape. Along with their work as translators and adaptors of plays, the humanists also investigated classical theories of dramatic structure, plot, and characterization. Horace was translated in the 1540s, but had been available throughout the Middle Ages. A complete version of Aristotle 's Poetics appeared later (first in 1570 in an Italian version), but his ideas had circulated (in an extremely truncated form) as early as
10660-407: The height of the civil wars (1570–1580), a third category of militant theatre emerged, adding to the existing genres of ancient tragedy and comedy. This new form of theater was characterized by its explicit political and religious themes, mirroring the turbulent contemporary context of the time. This article aims to explore and expand upon the development and significance of this militant theatre during
10790-440: The history of theatre of France . Discussions about the origins of non-religious theatre ("théâtre profane") — both drama and farce — in the Middle Ages remain controversial, but the idea of a continuous popular tradition stemming from Latin comedy and tragedy to the 9th century seems unlikely. Most historians place the origin of medieval drama in the church's liturgical dialogues and "tropes". At first simply dramatizations of
10920-444: The influence of liturgical drama (some of the dramas listed above include farcical sequences) and monastic readings of Plautus and Latin comic theatre. Non-dramatic plays from the 12th and 13th centuries: Select list of plays from the 14th and 15th centuries: In the 15th century, the public representation of plays was organized and controlled by a number of professional and semi-professional guilds: Genres of theatre practiced in
11050-471: The masses that the issues it highlighted were soon on the agenda of the National Assembly of France . Today, the novel remains his best-known work. It is popular worldwide and has been adapted for cinema, television, and stage shows. An apocryphal tale has circulated, describing the shortest correspondence in history as having been between Hugo and his publisher Hurst and Blackett in 1862. Hugo
11180-423: The memory of this liberator of our black brothers, of this heroic martyr John Brown, who died for Christ just as Christ. Only one slave on Earth is enough to dishonour the freedom of all men. So the abolition of slavery is, at this hour, the supreme goal of the thinkers. As a novelist, diarist, and member of Parliament, Victor Hugo fought a lifelong battle for the abolition of the death penalty. The Last Day of
11310-512: The middle of the century. Important models for both comedy, tragedy and tragicomedy of the century were also supplied by the Spanish playwrights Pedro Calderón de la Barca , Tirso de Molina and Lope de Vega , many of whose works were translated and adapted for the French stage. Important theatrical models were also supplied by the Italian stage (including the pastoral ), and Italy was also an important source for theoretical discussions on theatre, especially with regards to decorum (see for example
11440-578: The music of Gluck , Mozart , Weber and Meyerbeer . In Les Misérables , he calls the huntsman's chorus in Weber's Euryanthe , "perhaps the most beautiful piece of music ever composed". He also greatly admired Beethoven and, rather unusually for his time, appreciated works by composers from earlier centuries such as Palestrina and Monteverdi . Two famous musicians of the 19th century were friends of Hugo: Hector Berlioz and Franz Liszt . The latter played Beethoven in Hugo's home, and Hugo joked in
11570-424: The noble Sophonisba 's suicide (rather than be taken as captive by Rome)—was an enormous success at the court when performed in 1556. Select list of authors and works of humanist tragedy: (See the playwrights Antoine de Montchrestien , Alexandre Hardy and Jean de Schelandre for tragedy around 1600–1610.) Alongside tragedy, European humanists also adapted the ancient comedic tradition and as early as
11700-468: The opera Rigoletto and the musicals Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris . He produced more than 4,000 drawings in his lifetime, and campaigned for social causes such as the abolition of capital punishment and slavery . Although he was a committed royalist when young, Hugo's views changed as the decades passed, and he became a passionate supporter of republicanism , serving in politics as both deputy and senator. His work touched upon most of
11830-701: The other hand, he had low esteem for Richard Wagner , whom he described as "a man of talent coupled with imbecility." Well over one thousand musical compositions have been inspired by Hugo's works from the 19th century until the present day. In particular, Hugo's plays, in which he rejected the rules of classical theatre in favour of romantic drama, attracted the interest of many composers who adapted them into operas. More than one hundred operas are based on Hugo's works and among them are Donizetti 's Lucrezia Borgia (1833), Verdi 's Rigoletto (1851) and Ernani (1844), and Ponchielli 's La Gioconda (1876). Hugo's novels, as well as his plays, have been
11960-435: The other, the people." He was one of the earlier supporters of the concept of domaine public payant , under which a nominal fee would be charged for copying or performing works in the public domain, and this would go into a common fund dedicated to helping artists, especially young people. Hugo's religious views changed radically over the course of his life. In his youth and under the influence of his mother, he identified as
12090-573: 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 and then moving with his family to Paris after its liberation. 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 ,
12220-475: 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
12350-546: The period of civil wars. Militant theatre of the time was heavily influenced by the prevailing political and religious tensions. Plots were often drawn from mythology or history, presenting narratives that had clear parallels to contemporary political events and religious conflicts. This allowed audiences to connect with the performances on a personal and ideological level. The plays performed in this category of theater often served as vehicles for political commentary and social critique. They explored themes such as power struggles,
12480-596: The political and social issues and the artistic trends of his time. His opposition to absolutism , and his literary stature, established him as a national hero. Hugo died on 22 May 1885, aged 83. He was given a state funeral in the Panthéon of Paris , which was attended by over 2 million people, the largest in French history. Victor-Marie Hugo was born on 26 February 1802 in Besançon in Eastern France. He
12610-433: The politically charged nature of their work. Censorship, surveillance, and even imprisonment were constant threats. Nevertheless, the appeal and impact of these performances attracted audiences who sought catharsis, validation, and a deeper understanding of the socio-political climate. While militant theatre during the civil wars was a product of its time, its influence extended beyond the immediate historical context. It laid
12740-544: The popularity of his own work. His last novel, Quatre-vingt-treize ( Ninety-Three ), published in 1874, dealt with a subject that Hugo had previously avoided: the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution . Though Hugo's popularity was on the decline at the time of its publication, many now consider Ninety-Three to be a work on par with Hugo's better-known novels. After three unsuccessful attempts, Hugo
12870-405: The previous success of Les Misérables . Dedicated to the channel island of Guernsey , where Hugo spent 15 years of exile, the novel tells of a man who attempts to win the approval of his beloved's father by rescuing his ship, intentionally marooned by its captain who hopes to escape with a treasure of money it is transporting, through an exhausting battle of human engineering against the force of
13000-497: The public and critical reaction to Corneille's "Le Cid" can be found in other articles (he was criticized for his use of sources, for his violation of good taste, and for other irregularities that did not conform to Aristotian or Horacian rules), but its impact was stunning. Cardinal Richelieu asked the newly formed Académie française to investigate and pronounce on the criticisms (it was the Academy's first official judgement), and
13130-463: The public, the humanist theatre of the colleges and the theatre performed at court showed extremely divergent tastes. For example, while the tragicomedy was fashionable at the court in the first decade, the public was more interested in tragedy. The early theatres in Paris were often placed in existing structures like tennis courts ; their stages were extremely narrow, and facilities for sets and scene changes were often non-existent (this would encourage
13260-411: The range of his styles and by his mastery of the new forms—would be Robert Garnier . All of these eclectic traditions would continue to evolve in the "baroque" theatre of the early 17th century, before French "classicism" would finally impose itself. In addition to public theatres, plays were produced in private residences, before the court and in the university. In the first half of the century,
13390-455: 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 ) or perceiving
13520-471: The ritual, particularly in those rituals connected with Christmas and Easter (see Mystery play ), plays were eventually transferred from the monastery church to the chapter house or refectory hall and finally to the open air, and the vernacular was substituted for Latin. In the 12th century one finds the earliest extant passages in French appearing as refrains inserted into liturgical dramas in Latin, such as
13650-412: The scaffold." His influence was credited in the removal of the death penalty from the constitutions of Geneva , Portugal , and Colombia . He had also pleaded for Benito Juárez to spare the recently captured emperor Maximilian I of Mexico , but to no avail. Although Napoleon III granted an amnesty to all political exiles in 1859, Hugo declined, as it meant he would have to curtail his criticisms of
13780-474: The sea and an almost mythical beast of the sea, a giant squid. Superficially an adventure, one of Hugo's biographers calls it a "metaphor for the 19th century–technical progress, creative genius and hard work overcoming the immanent evil of the material world." The word used in Guernsey to refer to squid ( pieuvre , also sometimes applied to octopus) was to enter the French language as a result of its use in
13910-412: The seventeenth century were written in verse (notable exceptions include some of Molière's comedies). Except for lyric passages in these plays, the meter used was a twelve-syllable line (the " alexandrine ") with a regular pause or " cesura " after the sixth syllable; these lines were put into rhymed couplets ; couplets alternated between "feminine" (i.e. ending in a mute e) and "masculine" (i.e. ending in
14040-436: The some cases the roles of dancers and actors were held by the nobles themselves. The early years at Versailles—before the massive expansion of the residence—were entirely consecrated to such pleasures, and similar spectacles continued throughout the reign. Engravings show Louis XIV and the court seating outside before the "Cour du marbre" of Versailles watching the performance of a play. The great majority of scripted plays in
14170-721: The stage after Voyage chez les morts in 1981. However, La Cantatrice chauve is still playing at the 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. Like Shaw and Brecht , 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
14300-477: The stage. Some writers (like Lazare de Baïf and Thomas Sébillet ) attempted to link the medieval tradition of morality plays and farces to classical theatre, but Joachim du Bellay rejected this claim and elevated classical tragedy and comedy to a higher dignity. Of greater difficulty for the theorists was the incorporation of Aristotle's notion of " catharsis " or the purgation of emotions with Renaissance theatre, which remained profoundly attached to both pleasing
14430-511: The tragedy back into fashion, where it would remain for the rest of the century. The most important source for tragic theatre was Seneca and the precepts of Horace and Aristotle (and modern commentaries by Julius Caesar Scaliger and Lodovico Castelvetro ), although plots were taken from classical authors such as Plutarch , Suetonius , etc. and from short story collections (Italian, French and Spanish). The Greek tragic authors ( Sophocles , Euripides ) would become increasingly important by
14560-416: The usefulness of churches) and, published posthumously, The End of Satan and God (1886 and 1891 respectively, in which he represents Christianity as a griffin and rationalism as an angel ). The Hunchback of Notre-Dame also garnered attention due to its portrayal of the abuse of power by the church, even getting listed as one of the "forbidden books" by it. In fact, earlier adaptations had to change
14690-497: 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 disintegrated into wild caricature and parody with language itself disintegrating into disjointed fragments of words. Ionesco set about translating this experience into
14820-447: The villain, Claude Frollo from being a priest to avoid backlash. Vincent van Gogh ascribed the saying "Religions pass away, but God remains," actually by Jules Michelet , to Hugo. Although Hugo's many talents did not include exceptional musical ability, he nevertheless had a great impact on the music world through the inspiration that his works provided for composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Hugo himself particularly enjoyed
14950-641: The writer's house shouting, "Death to Victor Hugo! Hang him! Death to the scoundrel!" Hugo, who said "A war between Europeans is a civil war," was a strong advocate for the creation of the United States of Europe . He expounded his views on the subject in a speech he delivered during the International Peace Congress which took place in Paris in 1849. Here he declared "nations of the continent, will, without losing your distinctive qualities and glorious individuality, be blended into
15080-458: Was Verenice Flores . Although the royal court had grown tired of the tragedy (preferring the more escapist tragicomedy ), the theatre going public preferred the former. This would change in the 1630s and 1640s when, influenced by the long baroque novels of the period, the tragicomedy—a heroic and magical adventure of knights and maidens—became the dominant genre. The amazing success of Corneille's "Le Cid" in 1637 and "Horace" in 1640 would bring
15210-620: Was a Catholic, and he replied, "No. A Freethinker ." After 1872, Hugo never lost his antipathy towards the Catholic Church. He felt the Church was indifferent to the plight of the working class under the oppression of the monarchy. Perhaps he also was upset by the frequency with which his work appeared on the Church's list of banned books . Hugo counted 740 attacks on Les Misérables in the Catholic press. When Hugo's sons Charles and François-Victor died, he insisted that they be buried without
15340-465: Was also a great admirer of the Dadaists and Surrealists , especially his fellow countryman Tristan Tzara . Ionesco became friends with André Breton , 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
15470-519: Was attracting thousands of tourists who had read the popular novel. Hugo began planning a major novel about social misery and injustice as early as the 1830s, but a full 17 years were needed for Les Misérables to be realised and finally published in 1862. Hugo had previously used the departure of prisoners for the Bagne of Toulon in Le Dernier Jour d'un condamné . He went to Toulon to visit
15600-588: Was called to Spain to fight the Peninsular War . Madame Hugo and her children were sent back to Paris in 1808, where they moved to an old convent, 12 Impasse des Feuillantines , an isolated mansion in a deserted quarter of the left bank of the Seine. Hiding in a chapel at the back of the garden was de La Horie, who had conspired to restore the Bourbons and been condemned to death a few years earlier. He became
15730-469: Was finally elected to the Académie française in 1841, solidifying his position in the world of French arts and letters. A group of French academicians, particularly Étienne de Jouy , were fighting against the "romantic evolution" and had managed to delay Victor Hugo's election. Thereafter, he became increasingly involved in French politics. On the nomination of King Louis-Philippe , Hugo entered
15860-535: Was hopeless; it was in America what it had been in Europe. Contact with a wicked man is sometimes enough to rot a good deed and cause something bad to come out of it. With Marius's money, Thénardier became a slave trader. Like most of his contemporaries, Hugo justified colonialism in terms of a civilizing mission and putting an end to the slave trade on the Barbary coast. In a speech delivered on 18 May 1879, during
15990-637: Was launched simultaneously in major cities. Installments of the book sold out within hours and had an enormous impact on French society. The critical establishment was generally hostile to the novel; Taine found it insincere, Barbey d'Aurevilly complained of its vulgarity, Gustave Flaubert found within it "neither truth nor greatness", the Goncourt brothers lambasted its artificiality, and Baudelaire —despite giving favourable reviews in newspapers—castigated it in private as "repulsive and inept". However, Les Misérables proved popular enough with
16120-511: 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 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
16250-465: Was on vacation when Les Misérables was published. He queried the reaction to the work by sending a single-character telegram to his publisher, asking ? . The publisher replied with a single ! to indicate its success. Hugo turned away from social/political issues in his next novel, Les Travailleurs de la Mer ( Toilers of the Sea ), published in 1866. The book was well received, perhaps due to
16380-449: Was only fifteen. Hugo moved in with his mother to 18 rue des Petits-Augustins the following year and began attending law school. Hugo fell in love and secretly became engaged, against his mother's wishes, to his childhood friend Adèle Foucher . In June 1821, Sophie Trebuchet died, and Léopold married his long-time mistress Catherine Thomas a month later. Hugo married Adèle the following year. In 1819, Hugo and his brothers began publishing
16510-493: Was published in 1822 when he was only 20 years old and earned him a royal pension from Louis XVIII . Though the poems were admired for their spontaneous fervor and fluency, the collection that followed four years later in 1826 ( Odes et Ballades ) revealed Hugo to be a great poet, a natural master of lyric and creative song. Victor Hugo's first mature work of fiction was published in February 1829 by Charles Gosselin without
16640-488: Was reduced to "eating the unknown". During the Paris Commune —the revolutionary government that took power on 18 March 1871 and was toppled on 28 May—Victor Hugo was harshly critical of the atrocities committed on both sides. On 9 April, he wrote in his diary, "In short, this Commune is as idiotic as the National Assembly is ferocious. From both sides, folly." Yet he made a point of offering his support to members of
16770-415: Was the first tragedy to appear in the French language. The influence of Seneca was particularly strong in humanist tragedy. His plays — which were essentially chamber plays meant to be read for their lyrical passages and rhetorical oratory — brought to many humanist tragedies a concentration on rhetoric and language over dramatic action. Humanist tragedy took two distinct directions: During
16900-545: Was the youngest son of Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo (1774–1828), a general in the Napoleonic army , and Sophie Trébuchet (1772–1821). The couple had two other sons: Abel Joseph (1798–1855) and Eugène (1800–1837). The Hugo family came from Nancy in Lorraine , where Hugo's grandfather was a wood merchant. Léopold enlisted in the army of Revolutionary France at fourteen. He was an atheist and an ardent supporter of
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