Ioana Brudașca, Matei Vișniec în dialog cu Ionescu sau despre absurdul istoriei
Matei Vişniec in dialogue with Ionesco or about the absurdity of history
The study is an analysis of the dramatic text with tools provided by the concept of intertextuality. Matei Vişniec wrote the text On The Sensation of Elasticity When Walking Upon Corpses as a tribute to Ionesco. Lesson, Rhinos, Bald Soprano are rewritten using specific rhetorical strategies, but more than a rewriting, the text of Vişniec is an allegory of the absurd history lived by the finest intellectuals in the communist prisons. There are quotes from Ionesco’s theater whose function is to neutralize in an ironical flavour the various situations in which Vişniec’s characters are being plunged in. Intertextuality is achieved not only by direct reference, but also through pastiche, being undoubtedly a parody of Ionesco’s masterpiece. The sense of tragedy is emphasized at a textual level by the play-within-the-play. In conclusion, on a first reading the play written by Visniec denounces the harsh historical conditions improper for developing the writing skills but also the freedom offered through literature to those underprivileged.
Keywords: intertextuality, history, absurdity, parody, quote, irony
- Busuioc, Alina, „We have experienced some form of historical absurd” interviu cu Matei Vişniec în Adevărul literar şi artistic, nr. 1004 / 16 decembrie 2009;
- Ciobotari, Călin, Matei Vişniec in dialogue with Călin Ciobotari în Dacia literară, nr. 1, 2010;
- Ionesco, Eugène, Diary in shreds, translation by Irina Bădescu, Bucureşti, Editura Humanitas, 1992;
- Rose, Margaret A., Parody: ancient, modern and post-modern, Cambridge University Press, 1993;
- Steiciuc, Carmen Veronica, Advantages and disadvantages of a Romanian writer in Paris în Dacia literară, nr. 2, 2010;
- Vişniec, Matei, West Express. About the feeling of elasticity when we step over corpses, Editura Paralela 45, Piteşti, 2009.
