Product Description
"Every life is a whole universe. But no life means anything unless it reflects the universal life, unless it is at the same time itself and something else, it means nothing if it is separate, it means nothing too, if it is lived gregariously, if it is lost in the nothingness of impersonality."--Eugne Ionesco, Fragments of a Journal In the Clown in the Agora, William Kluback and Michael Finkenthal have put together a book of imagined conversations, encounters, and interviews based on the poetical and philosophical ideas of playwright Eugne Ionesco. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

one of a kind
Eugene Ionesco, playwright, author of Rhinoceros and The Bald Soprano, is profiled by two authors.Kluback and Finkenthal wrote alternating chapters, primarily discussing the philosophy of Ionesco.Conversations they are not, but the authors alternate chapters partly in descriptions of various facets of Ionesco's philosophy, or differing takes on a certain view of Ionesco, i.e. chapters entitled "The Black Sun of Melancholy" and "Counternotes to the Black Sun of Melancholy."

To a lesser extent this book would serve as a good companion to Ionesco's _Notes and Counter-Notes_ or _Fragments of a Journal_.The authors only briefly touch on the plays which made Ionesco famous.Ionesco is limned as an iconoclast who rejected all -isms.His life is only fleetingly described; _The Clown in the Agora_ is not a biography, nor is it a critical exegesis of his plays.In fact, this book is perhaps best described as essays by two Ionesco enthusiast/scholars, exploring the philosophy of the late French/Rumanian writer.

This volume is a modest contribution to literature.Still, it is a worthwhile read for a person involved in Ionesco study.In Finkenthal and Kluback's labor of love the reader can come to better understand Ionesco, one of the 20th century's most important playwrights and writers.The reader may find it worthwhile to keep _Clown in the Agora_ alongside books of Ionesco's plays and writings for the purpose of cross-reference.

_The Two Faces of Ionesco_ is another helpful volume.Both this and _Clown in the Agora_ are easily obtained via Interlibrary Loan from your public or university library.

Ken Miller

Philosophical and poetical labyrinth
We can enjoy to wonder in a philosophical and poetical labyrinth. The two exellent scholars play a wonderful session.Please listen to it, you can hear the clown's wordless shout. ... Read more