Customer Reviews

Rhinoceros and Other Plays

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Ionesco is one of the greatest of the absurdist playwrights. Rhinoceros is a great piece -- an amalgam of comedy and tragedy that will have you doubled over in laughter one moment and desperately frightened the next.

That being said, this translation has some serious problems. It was very strange to read as an American in 2004, because it is written in the English spoken in Great Britain in the 1960s. In addition to serious liberties taken by the translator (i.e. simply leaving out certain lines), there sometimes crops up a lack of flow that is all too common in translated literature.

Despite the fact that it's time for a new translation, I highly recommend Ionesco's plays, and Rhinoceros in particular. If you know French, read the original!

A mind-twisting collection of Ionesco's best drama. Incredible, fantastic and filled with originality. Add this one to your bookshelf. Best quote - ' All cats die, Socrates is dead. Therefore, Socrates is a cat'

This is one of the greatest books I have ever read! It is very subtle and has many double meanings. It's very good if you want to have a laugh, but it's not only funny: It will get you thinking about the world and the people in it, the dangers of conformity.Really worth buying!

...and blackly humourous, to boot. Ionesco displays the 'nonconformist' magnificently. Displays our innate desire to "move with the times" even when the times aren't moving in the right direction...i really hope Berenger won't capitulate, but you can never tell...

Perhaps it has to do with time, but I think Rhinoceros reads better from a perspective other than the one having to do with fascism. I chose to direct it recently from a very different point of view and one, I think, that would facilitate a bristling reading. The play is not about fascism per se, but rather about the rigidity of social convention, which was one of Ionesco's concerns. Just listen to Jean's constant criticisms of Berenger's appearance and behavior. The first time the Rhinoceroses appear, Berenger has had enough of Jean and is, wishfully thinking, wishing ill upon him. Why a Rhinoceros? Perhaps because Jean is so prissy; perhaps Berenger wishes he was thick-skinned enough to shrug off Jean's derision. The first act ends, indeed, with an argument between the two. Think of the appearance of the Rhino in the second act as an unconcsious working out of his wishful thinking: Jean is replaced by the insulting and condescending Dudard. Either Berenger misfires or he is testing--through Mrs Boeff--whether love can withstand "Rhinoceritis". It appears it can. Notice his conversations with Daisy. Read Act Three as Berenger taunting, harassing, and inflicting Rhinoceritis upon Jean in a kind of coup de grace, separating himself completely from Jean and the conventions he stands for. In the fourth act, however, we see the daydream get out of his control because, as Jean told us in the beginning, Berenger's thinking is all muddled; Daisy catches the 'disease' as she tries to win or seduce him, but he himself is, ironically, immune or a coward. Ionesco, of course, is richer than a simplistic point a view; but as Jean, again, tells us in the beginning, Berenger is a dreamer, and examining Berenger's state of mind as the cause of the rampant and rampaging outbreak of Rhinoceritis makes for a comic and tragic reading and very entertainig piece of theatre.

"There are more dead people than living. And their numbers are increasing. The living are getting rarer."-Ionesco.

Ionesco wrote this play in his traditional style, that is, using humor and the idea of the ridiculous to develop satire. Rhinoceros is a commentary on Nazism and a result of Ionesco's experiences with fascism, yet it is extremely readable, if one remembers not to take it to seriously. That being said, the lessons it offers are serious, concerning groupthink, the absence of rational thought in humanity, and the slippery slope to an unconventional, self-destructive conclusion. And yes, this book does contain plenty of rhinoceros, in a small town, stampeding out of control. Cue the ridiculous: enjoy!

Ionesco has written wonderful plays showing the idiocy of modern life and its materialistic bent. It is perfect for the very sad and realistic times we live in; his absurdity has become our reality. He, with great artistry, has held up the mirror to a corrupt society on the political, social, psychological and religious levels. He doesn't pull punches. Everyone should read him. He's profound. And yes he does use humor to make his points.

Well, I am currently reading the French version of the play, and thankful for doing so. The english version is so off by literal standards it takes much of the meaning away. The entire cat discussion-that was based on cats and dogs-a dog has 4 paws therefore it is a cat because a cat has 4 paws. It is a very absurd play-but better in french.

Wow...this book was so off the wall, but it had an excellent theme. It shows that with time people must conform. To "move with the times" as Mr. Papillon said. It was funny and serious all at the same time. I vas very impressed. Ionesco is a genius.

Rhinoceros is an important twentieth century intellectual work about fascist mindcontrol and seeing your friends and neighbors turn into something other than human beings. Years before the pod people were snatching bodies on our movie screens Ionesco's Parisians were transforming into nonhuman rhinoceri.