Why do we write? Ionesco and the question of questions

Le Regard Libre N° 6 - Jonas Follonier

My study of Eugène Ionesco in French literature class prompted me to read his plays. Notes and counter-notesTo the question «Why do you write? Rhinoceros delivers this answer:

«If a writer, an author, were to ask me why I read, why I go to a show, I would reply that I go, not to get answers, but to get other questions; not to acquire knowledge, but, quite simply, to get to know the something, the someone, that is a work of art. [...] The writer is embarrassed by the questions he is asked, because he asks them of himself and because he asks himself many others, because he also suspects that there are other questions that he could ask himself, but that he will never be able to ask himself, let alone answer.»

This thought is confused with Ionesco's existential interrogations: «Not knowing what the purpose of existence is, I don't know exactly why I write either.» What if the purpose of existence was to write? Writing in the broadest sense, writing one's thoughts, writing one's destiny. What if the purpose of writing was to live?

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © Jonas Follonier for Le Regard Libre