Occupation: Playwright, Dramatist.
Born: November 26, 1909, in Slatina, Romania.
Lived: Paris, 1910-1925.
Died: March 28, 1994 (aged 84), Paris.
Nationality: Romanian, French.
Period: 1931-1994.
Genre: Theatre.
Literary movement: Avant-Garde, Theatre of the Absurd.
First play: The Bald Soprano (1948).
Wrote Rhinoceros: 1960.
"Still, as we leave him at the brink of despair, Berenger resolves to carry on—to maintain his individuality in spite of everything. He will fight the rhinos, he declares, until the end.
Rhinoceros is usually interpreted as a response to the sudden upsurge of fascism during the events preceding World War II, and explores the themes of conformity, culture, and morality. In an interview in Le Monde (January 17, 1960), Ionesco himself says, “I have been very much struck by what one might call the current of opinion, by its rapid evolution, its power of contagion, which is that of a real epidemic. People allow themselves suddenly to be invaded by a new religion, a doctrine, a fanaticism…. At such moments we witness a veritable mental mutation. I don’t know if you have noticed it, but when people no longer share your opinions, when you can no longer make yourself understood by them, one has the impression of being confronted with monsters—rhinos, for example. They have that mixture of candour and ferocity. They would kill you with the best of consciences.”
Ionesco's primary purpose in writing Rhinoceros was not simply to criticize the horrors of the Nazis, but to explore the mentality of those who so easily succumbed to fascism. What was it that allowed them to rationalize away their free thought—to subvert their own free will? What traits in the individual allow him to be snowballed by general opinion? Why is it necessary to believe the same thing that everyone else believes? In the play, characters repeat ideas and theories they have heard others repeat. At first, everyone is horrified by the violent beasts, but once other people, especially authority figures, collapse in the play, those remaining find it easier and easier to justify the metamorphosis. By the play’s end, even the violence and atrocity of the rhinos is being praised for its simplicity and beauty."
- Theatre History/Three play of the Absurd/Rhinoceros
Eugene Ionesco - Biography
Rhinoceros - Analysis
