Article Title：'Nu, Nu and Nu': Ionesco's 'No!' to Romanian literature and politics
Abstract：
Nu (Non), a volume of critical essays, was Eugene Ionesco's first publication in Romania in 1934. In this work he reveals contempt for Romanian Literature, Literary politics and, indirectly, politics itself. At the same time Ionesco the critic already displays his unique characteristics: Humor, spontaneity, playfulness, recalcitrance and theatricality. Hid views on literary criticism and its extra-aesthetical motives would remain influential for his French career as a a playwright and essayist. In Non, Ionesco's contradictory spirit demolishes traditional values and respected literary figures. The iconoclast enjoys overthrowing hierarchies and challenging the Romanian literary milieu: he demonstrates that any point of view can be valid when writing a critical essay. Non is also interspersed with journal entries in which Ionesco mischievously analyses his own motives as a critic. Later, in France, Ionesco will continue to write journals, a literary form for which he already demonstrates affinity in Romania. Non, with its ferocious criticism of Romanian literati, presages the tragicomical playwright, novelist and journal-writer, Eugene Ionesco.
Keywords: criticism; Ionesco; Nu; politics; Romania
DOI: 10.1177/0047244104046384
Source：JOURNAL OF EUROPEAN STUDIES
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