Eugène Ionesco (1909-1994)

Death: 28th March 1994
Location: Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris, France
Photo taken by: Wayne
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Romanian born playwright who, along with Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, and Arthur Adamov, was one of the defining playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd.
Most of his works were written in French, but he is one of Romania’s most renowned writers. His father was Romanian and his mother was French and he sent most of his childhood in France until 1925 when his parents divorced and he returned to Romania with his father. 
He studied French Literature at the University of Bucharest and he qualified as a teacher. He married in 1936 and his wife, Rodica Burileanu, gave birth to a daughter. In 1938 he moved with his family to France so that he could complete his doctoral thesis. 
Whilst in France the Second World War broke out the family remained in France and they settled in Paris after the end of the war. Ionesco did not write his first play until 1948 and although it was not a popular success it was championed by the critics.
The inscription on his grave translates as:
Pray to the I don't-know-who: Jesus Christ, I hope.

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