Le rhinocéros. - [WITH IONESCO'S DEDICATION. ]

Paris, Galliard, 1959. 8vo. Uncut in the original wrappers. Minor wear, with edges exhibiting slight signs of use. The cover is clean overall but has four small brown spots. Fine and tight. Internally exceptionally well-preserved, clean and bright.

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First edition, presentation-copy, of one of Ionesco's most celebrated plays, significant work in the Theatre of the Absurd. The copy is inscribed by Ionesco to front endpaper: ""Pour Kjeld Abell - / Eugène Ionesco / avec sa reconnaissance / et son amitié. / E.I. / 9-25,"". With works like the present, Eugène Ionesco helped found the important movement known as Theatre of the Absurd. The play explores themes of societal pressures, conformity, and the loss of individuality, set in a town where the inhabitants gradually turn into rhinoceroses. Through the protagonist, Berenger, who resists the transformation, Ionesco critiques totalitarianism, the allure, of mass movements, and the fragile nature of human identity. Ionesco, a Romanian-Frrench playwright, bacame known for his rejection of traditional theatrical conventions and his focus on the absurdity of human existence. Alongside writers like Samuel Beckett, he shaped post-war drama, exploring existential themes through humor, illogical dialogue, and surreal situations. Le Rhinocéros is often interpreted as a commentary on the rise of fascism and the danger of unhecked ideologies, though Ionesco insisted it was a more universal reflection on human nature. Its relevance endures, as it invites readers and viewers to reflect on the role of the individual within the collective, and the pressures to confirm even when that means losing one's humanity. The work is one of Ionesco's most celebrated plays, alongside La Cantatrice chauve (The Bald Soprano) and La Leçon (The Lesson), and it soldified his reputation as a key figure in modernist literature. Kjeld Abell was a major Danish playwright and a key voice in mid-century European theatre. His bold, innovative works anticipated many of the themes later explored by the Theatre of the Absurd. Abell often employed dream logic, satire, and non-linear structure to critique authoritarianism and explore existential dilemmas, making him a highly relevant and meaningful dedicatee for this presentation copy.