Ionesco and Rhinoceros: Personal and Political Backgrounds
Ionesco and Rhinoceros: Personal and Political Backgrounds
Author(s): Matei CalinescuSubject(s): Political history, Romanian Literature, Government/Political systems, Politics and society, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Fascism, Nazism and WW II, Theory of Literature
Published by: SAGE Publications Ltd
Keywords: Eugène Ionesco; Romania; political history; 1930s and 1940s; play; Rhinoceros; Romanian literature; politics and literature; Romanian intellectuals; anti-Nazi character of the play;
Summary/Abstract: Eugène Ionesco's conscious and unconscious memories of the Romanian 1930s and early 1940s accompanied him throughout his life and directly inspired one of his major plays, Rhinoceros, written in 1958. The rise in Romania of the extreme right-wing Iron Guard or Legionary movement and Ionesco's distressing experience of growing fanaticism among Romanian intellectuals, and even among his closest literary friends, was acknowledged by him as one of the sources of the play. [...]
Journal: East European Politics and Societies
- Issue Year: 09/1995
- Issue No: 03
- Page Range: 393-432
- Page Count: 40
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF