Ionesco, Eugène

The playwright and author Eugène Ionesco was born in Romania to a Romanian father and a French mother. The family moved to Paris when Ionesco was two years old. The parents separated, and the father returned to Romania. In 1925 Ionesco, his mother, and younger sister also moved back to Romania. Eventually Ionesco began studying French at the university in Bukarest. Later he worked as a teacher in the same subject at a school in the city. In 1936 he married a student of law and philosophy, Rodica Burileano, and the couple moved to France two years later, which was made possible by a grant that Ionesco had received. France now became his country of residence for the rest of his life. During the Second World War, they took up residence for a while in Marseille, and Ionesco then worked as a publisher. In 1944, Rodica gave birth to a daughter. After the war, Ionesco started working as a teacher again, now of English. In Paris, he socialized with authors such as Boris Vian and Raymond Queneau.