Dictionnaire Eugène Ionesco by Jeanyves Guérin (review)

Reviews 229 suppressed in the ‘approved’ Recueil de Vraye Poésie Françoyse, but included in the equally influential but less sanctioned Art poétique by Thomas Sébillet. The compilation and distribution of noteworthy recueils is also the theme of Nathalie Dauvois’s intriguing essay on the Fleurs de Poésie Françoyse, where some epigrams were set to music by Claudin de Sermisy. The often unspecified relationship between poetry and music becomes the focus of both Frank Dobbins’s and Alice Tacaille’s contributions, while Élise Rajchenbach-Teller explores the political and poetic feud between Paris and Lyon which took place in the form of a querelle des dames actually authored by men. Completing the volume are two articles, by Isabelle Garnier and Michel Magnien, which examine the funereal poetry occasioned by deaths of the Queen Mother, Louise de Savoie, and the Dauphin François. The volume commands attention for its exhaustive use of primary sources and the quality of its overall erudition. If there is a cavil, it would stem from the lack of attention given to the effect of the Wars of Religion on creative output. Similarly, more could have been said about the influence of this period on the Pléiade. Nonetheless, the work should become standard reference for scholars in the field and inspire others to pursue related lines of inquiry. University of Iowa Russell Ganim Guérin, Jeanyves. Dictionnaire Eugène Ionesco. Paris: Champion, 2012. ISBN 978-27453 -2379-8. Pp. 706. 128 a. This addition to the list of literary dictionaries highlights the complexity of Ionesco’s world-view as well as the richness of his works. The challenge lies in how best to take advantage of the great variety of entries, how to go beyond the simple use of the book as a scholarly reference work. It is clear that Guérin has gathered together experts on Ionesco, three generations of them (23), and that their entries cover in detail the works, themes, and characters found in Ionesco’s oeuvre as well as people, places, events, and philosophies that influenced him. The back matter includes a chronological presentation of significant events in Ionesco’s life, a comprehensive list of his writings, and an impressive bibliographie critique. These, along with the table of contents and the alphabetical organization of the tome contribute to the accessibility of information needed for scholarly research. Entries are of varied length, with several pages dedicated to major works, theatre theory and politics, and much shorter entries for some characters and people in Ionesco’s entourage. The essays are also of somewhat uneven quality. The synopses and analyses of Ionesco’s works are for the most part quite clear but the brief entries on characters feel oversimplified. The cross-referencing creates an interesting (if somewhat subjective) network but many entries do not refer the reader to related key terms. For example, it is surprising that the entry Acteur (31) is not followed by cross-references to the many actors who figure in the volume (JeanLouis Barrault, Michel Bouquet, etc.). These issues aside, there is a coherence to the whole that makes the dictionary a significant complement to Ionesco studies. Guérin’s preface stresses Ionesco’s originality as well as his sometimes awkward relationship with the intellectual milieu of his time. Guérin differentiates between the varied aspects of Ionesco’s personality, writings and attitudes by calling him by different names. The use of “Eugène”vs.“Ionesco”(11) and“Eugen Ionescu”vs.“Eugène Ionesco”(16) calls to mind characters in Ionesco’s plays (the Bérengers, the Bobby Watsons) and serves as an excellent introduction to the ambiguous nature of the world as seen by this author. A different dimension of the dictionary comes into view if one reads the preface with a willingness to refer to the entries themselves during the process. For example, Guérin’s mention of Ionesco’s resistance to the Garde de fer (14) is greatly enriched by a quick read of the entry “Garde de fer” (253–54). The reference to Ionesco’s“contestation du code langagier”(11) is clarified by the long entry“Langage” (343–46). This approach to...