About Eugène Ionesco
Ionesco wrote mainly in French and helped start a new style of drama with his anti‑play The Bald Soprano, a work that helped launch the Theatre of the Absurd. His other plays often followed Albert Camus’s ideas, exploring absurdism and surrealism. In 1970 he was elected to the Académie française and received the Austrian State Prize for European Literature, and in 1973 he won the Jerusalem Prize.
![“MR. SMITH: Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. [Silence.] MR. MARTIN: Don't you feel well? [Silence.] MRS. SMITH: No, he's wet his pants. [Silence.] MRS. MARTIN: Oh, sir, at your age, you shouldn't. [Silence.] MR. SMITH: The heart is ageless. [Silence.]” quote by Eugène Ionesco](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/a00/eug-ne-ionesco-1878_silence_mr-smith-oh-dear-oh-dear-oh-dear-silence_2374232.jpg)
![“[comes out of the bathroom] Brrr. [He trumpets again.] BERENGER: That's not what you believe fundamentally—I know you too well. You know as well as I do that mankind... JEAN: [interrupting him] Don't talk to me about mankind! BERENGER: I mean the human individual, humanism... JEAN: Humanism is all…” quote by Eugène Ionesco](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/851/eug-ne-ionesco-1878_quote_comes-out-of-the-bathroom-brrr-he-trumpe_850596.jpg)
