about Author
While known as a French playwright, Eugene Ionesco was born in Romania in 1909. Though his works question the metaphysical world, Ionesco remained an Orthodox Christian until his death. His family moved to Paris when he was very young. His father returned to Romania when that country entered World War I and was presumed dead for quite some time when he did not return to Paris after the end of the war. However, his father had in fact been working for the government and never served in the war. His father, through his government connections, was able to procure a divorce and custody of the children, thus, Ionesco returned to Romania to live for some time. Ionesco's father made very conscious use of the government, whichever government was in charge at the time, to serve his own purposes; Ionesco wrote that at the end of his father's life he had always been on the other side of the argument with his father regarding the power of the state. Ionesco attended school in Romania and his father was able to obtain a study grant for him. His father pushed him towards engineering, however, Ionesco was determined to study the humanities. He studied in France prior to World War II, but when war broke out he returned to Romania with his wife. Later, he attempted and finally received permission to travel back to Paris with his wife in 1942. Ionesco had been writing poetry, prose and literary criticism for some time, but in 1950 his first play, The Bald Soprano, premiered. He spent years defending his dramatic writing. He spent the rest of his life writing plays, fighting for free speech and human rights. He died in 1994. .