Eugene Ionesco, Emil Cioran – Named Post Mortem Members Of Romanian Academy

The announcement was made during a conference honoring Eugene Ionesco on what would have been his hundredth birthday.

The event was attended by other members of the Academy, including Eugen Simion, Ion Paun Otiman, Radu Beligan, and French ambassador to Romania Henri Paul.

Sala said Eugene Ionesco is among the great names of world literature and pointed out Ionesco’s early work was written in Romanian. Sala said Ionesco drew on three Romanian playwrights: I.L. Caragiale, Urmuz and Gheorghe Ciprian.

In closing, Sala quoted Ionesco as saying „I fear being forgotten, not being dead.”

„His spirit can rest easy, because the Romanian Academy will not forget him,” Sala said and announced Ionesco and Cioran were made Academy members post mortem.

Eugene Ionesco (born Eugen Ionescu on November 26, 1909 in Slatina, Romania; died March 28, 1994 in Paris, France) was a Romanian and French playwright and one of the foremost representatives of the Theatre of the Absurd. His first play, „The Bald Soprano / La Cantatrice Chauve”, was performed on May 11, 1950 at the Théâtre de la Huchette in Paris, and is considered a classic of this genre of drama.

Emil Cioran (born on April 8, 1911 in Rasinari, Romania; died June 20, 1995 in Paris) was a Romanian philosopher and essayist. Cioran’s first book, „On the Heights of Despair,” was published in Romania in 1934. It was awarded the Commission’s Prize and the Young Writers Prize for one of the best books written by an unpublished young writer.