Rating:  Summary: Absurd and amazing Review: ...and blackly humourous, to boot. Ionesco displays the 'nonconformist' magnificently. Displays our innate desire to "move with the times" even when the times aren't moving in the right direction...i really hope Berenger won't capitulate, but you can never tell...
Rating:  Summary: Superb Review: A mind-twisting collection of Ionesco's best drama. Incredible, fantastic and filled with originality. Add this one to your bookshelf. Best quote - ' All cats die, Socrates is dead. Therefore, Socrates is a cat'
Rating:  Summary: Dated Translation Review: Ionesco is one of the greatest of the absurdist playwrights. Rhinoceros is a great piece -- an amalgam of comedy and tragedy that will have you doubled over in laughter one moment and desperately frightened the next.That being said, this translation has some serious problems. It was very strange to read as an American in 2004, because it is written in the English spoken in Great Britain in the 1960s. In addition to serious liberties taken by the translator (i.e. simply leaving out certain lines), there sometimes crops up a lack of flow that is all too common in translated literature. Despite the fact that it's time for a new translation, I highly recommend Ionesco's plays, and Rhinoceros in particular. If you know French, read the original!
Rating:  Summary: Surprisingly relevant for our times Review: One could do worse than to commemorate the installation of George W. Bush as President-apparent of the United States by reading "The Leader," one of the short plays in this collection. (My favorite quote these days: "But -- the Leader hasn't got a head!" "What's he need a head for when he's got GENIUS?") _Rhinoceros_ itself, of course, in its slow-motion documentation of the "rhinozation" of an entire populace, was originally a trope on the rise of Nazism, but could certainly be applied to the gradual rightward shift of the American political spectrum.
Rating:  Summary: Surprisingly relevant for our times Review: One could do worse than to commemorate the installation of George W. Bush as President-apparent of the United States by reading "The Leader," one of the short plays in this collection. (My favorite quote these days: "But -- the Leader hasn't got a head!" "What's he need a head for when he's got GENIUS?") _Rhinoceros_ itself, of course, in its slow-motion documentation of the "rhinozation" of an entire populace, was originally a trope on the rise of Nazism, but could certainly be applied to the gradual rightward shift of the American political spectrum.
Rating:  Summary: Surprisingly relevant for our times Review: One could do worse than to commemorate the installation of George W. Bush as President-apparent of the United States by reading "The Leader," one of the short plays in this collection. (My favorite quote these days: "But -- the Leader hasn't got a head!" "What's he need a head for when he's got GENIUS?") _Rhinoceros_ itself, of course, in its slow-motion documentation of the "rhinozation" of an entire populace, was originally a trope on the rise of Nazism, but could certainly be applied to the gradual rightward shift of the American political spectrum.
Rating:  Summary: Fine Translation Review: Prouse's translation reads very, very well. Rhinoceros itself is a tremendous summation of...nothing. Perhaps that's the point, or, more likely, perhaps there is no point. It's funny, acerbic, realistic, fantastic, and quite on point when it comes to following the herd. Pirandello's plays are a very good backdrop to these plays. Surprisingly, I found Sartre's dramatic work not only greatly inferior to Ionesco's but irrelevant as well. You may regret buying this book, but it won't be the fault of the author or the translator.
Rating:  Summary: Rhinoceros is important, I wonder about the other plays Review: Rhinoceros is an important twentieth century intellectual work about fascist mindcontrol and seeing your friends and neighbors turn into something other than human beings. Years before the pod people were snatching bodies on our movie screens Ionesco's Parisians were transforming into nonhuman rhinoceri.
Rating:  Summary: Rhinocerosfull! Review: This is one of the greatest books I have ever read! It is very subtle and has many double meanings. It's very good if you want to have a laugh, but it's not only funny: It will get you thinking about the world and the people in it, the dangers of conformity.Really worth buying!
Rating:  Summary: The French Version Review: Well, I am currently reading the French version of the play, and thankful for doing so. The english version is so off by literal standards it takes much of the meaning away. The entire cat discussion-that was based on cats and dogs-a dog has 4 paws therefore it is a cat because a cat has 4 paws. It is a very absurd play-but better in french.
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