EUGÈNE IONESCO:  “DON’T LET THE WORD ‘PREFACE’ FRIGHTEN YOU. IN TRUTH, IT WILL BE A WAY OF VISUALIZING THE PROBLEM OF A POSSIBLE LITERARY CRITICISM….”

IONESCO, EUGÈNE.  (1909-1994).  Romanian-born French playwright; his one-act “antiplay” La Cantatrice Chauve (1949; The Bald Soprano) inspired a revolution in dramatic techniques and helped inaugurate the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’; Elected to the Académie Française in 1970, he remains among the most important dramatists of the 20th century.  Uncommon Autograph Letter Signed, “Eugene Ionesco”, in French.  Two full pages, octavo.  No place, no date.  Fine condition.  To “Dear Friend”.  Ionesco writes:

 

“Here is the paper with the sentence which tries to attach this debate to something current.  It doesn’t seem to me to be an answer to such or such an article, but to several and to some ideas floating in the air.  I am preparing (if you wish) some other papers, more precise—the later being only a sort of ‘preface’.  I wonder if one couldn’t publish this series parallel with that of A.R. Grillet?  The present paper is not, I repeat, a response like that of …  Do you want from me.  I would be very happy about it, I would be obliged to you.  In any case, don’t lose this text.  Warmly yours, Eugène Ionesco.

P.S. Don’t let the word ‘preface’ frighten you.  In truth, it will be a way of visualizing the problem of a possible literary criticism.  These articles could be 600, 60, 6 or 3 or as many as you want.”

 

The final PS is written in a different ink, lending a certain charm to the letter and further emphasizes Ionescco’s thought process. His letters are uncommon.                                                                                    

 

$1800.00