L’Homme aux valises followed by Ce formidable bordel !

One of twenty copies on Holland paper before thirty-five copies on Arches vellum.

The Man with Suitcases is a tireless traveler who pursues his identity through the world of repression and misunderstanding. On the contrary, the character of Ce formidable bordel is frozen in immobility. A static, stunned figure, he sees people move, revolutions explode, crimes occur, then death and time weigh down around him.

Eugène Ionesco (1909-1994) took his place in the 1950s among the representatives of what would be called "the theater of the absurd." His first plays ( La Cantatrice chauve, La Leçon ) express his astonishment at the emptiness of beings and all forms of stupefaction. Tueur sans gages defends the individual against a lethargic society; Rhinocéros delivers an even clearer message: whoever wants to remain a man will have to distrust everyone. Despite an ever-increasing anxiety ( Voyages chez les morts ), Ionesco is one of those who do not capitulate.