Often called the father of the Theater of the Absurd, Eugène Ionesco wrote groundbreaking plays that are simultaneously hilarious, tragic, and profound. Now his classic one acts The Bald Soprano and The Lesson are available in an exciting new translation by Pulitzer Prize-finalist Tina Howe, noted heir of Ionesco's absurdist vision, acclaimed by Frank Rich as "one of the smartest playwrights we have." In The Bald Soprano Ionesco throws together a cast of characters including the quintessential British middle-class family the Smiths, their guests the Martins, their maid Mary, and a fire chief determined to extinguish all fires -- including their hearths. It's an archetypical absurdist tale and Ionesco displays his profound take on the problems inherent in modern communication. The Lesson illustrates Ionesco's comic genius, where insanity and farce collide as a professor becomes increasingly frustrated with his hapless student, and the student with his mad teacher.

The Library of Congress, the Gertrude Clark Whittall Poetry and Literature Fund presents the Treteau De Paris Theatre Company in "La Cantatrice Chauve," [The Bald Soprano] an anti-play by Eugène Ionesco, directed by Nicolas Bataille, scenery and costumes by Jacques Noël, produced by Jean de Rigault with the Tréteau de Paris Theatre Company.

This is the first book to explore the English-language literary scene in Paris after World War II, including the intersecting lives of Richard Wright, Samuel Beckett, James Baldwin, and Maurice Girodias.