1965
First Published
3.75
Average Rating
300
Number of Pages
The Bald Soprano Anti-play, Followed By an Unpublished Scene. Translated by Donald A. Allen, Typographical interpretations by Massin and Photographic interpretations by Henry Cohen (Based on the Nicolas Bataille Paris Production). New Grove Press Inc., 1965. Hardcover in pictorial DJ. 4to, unpaginated. First English language edition of this typographic interpretation of Ionesco's first dramatic work, the point of origin of absurdist theater. Designed throughout by experimental typographer Massin, who was also responsible for the design of Raymond Queneau's "Cent mille milliards de poemes", in which each line of poetry is printed on a separate strip of paper, forming a huge exquisite corps of words. These two book designs are considered the height of Massin's output. "In his design... each character is indicated not by name, but by a line image next to the speech which he is to utter. The shape of the words is distorted so as to give emphasis to the sound of the speech. By using techniques which fall somewhere between those of the cinema and the comic strip, he ensures that, in the dialogue, the primary constituents of word and image are balanced in a way that heightens the meaning of the play." [Gerald Woods et al., "Art Without Boundaries", pp. 148-9].
Avg Rating
3.75
Number of Ratings
6,724
5 STARS
29%
4 STARS
34%
3 STARS
25%
2 STARS
9%
1 STARS
4%
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Author
Eugene Ionesco
Author · 43 books
Eugène Ionesco, born Eugen Ionescu, was a Romanian playwright and dramatist; one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd. Beyond ridiculing the most banal situations, Ionesco's plays depict in a tangible way the solitude and insignificance of human existence. Excerpted from Wikipedia.
