Event

Ionesco Paris Review Interview

Ionesco has been called a "tragic clown," the "Shakespeare of the Absurd," the "Enfant Terrible of the Avant-Garde," and the "Inventor of the Metaphysical Farce"epithets that point to his evolution from a young playwright at a tiny Left Bank theater to an esteemed member of the Académie Française. For the past forty-five years, Ionesco has been married to Rodika, his Romanian wife. They live in an exotic top-floor apartment on the Boulevard Montparnasse above La Coupole, surrounded by a collection of books and pictures by some of Ionesco's oldest friends and colleagues, including Hemingway, Picasso, Sartre, and Henry Miller. Our interview took place in the drawing room, where Miró's portraits, Max Ernst's drawing of Ionesco's Rhinoceros, and a selection of Romanian and Greek icons adorn the walls.