This contribution aims to examine the dramaturgical similarities and differences between the absurd works of Eugène Ionesco and those of the German-speaking playwright and writer Wolfgang Hildesheimer. The essay is divided into two parts. First, it examines the theoretical considerations expressed by Hildesheimer in the critical apparatus accompanying the pub lication and staging of his tryptic Spiele, in denen es dunkel wird (Plays, in which it becomes dark, 1958). In this context, the stylistic characteristics and recurring themes of absurdity in Hildesheimer’s work are outlined, and a comparative approach with Ionesco’s reflections is attempted: in particular, the relationship with the avant-garde movements of the 20th century and the definition of a new type of “subject” will be taken into consideration. Secondly, we focus on Hildesheimer’s proposal to consider Ionesco’s theatre of the absurd as “parabolic” and on his thesis that this aspect emerges in the tragic farce The Chairs (1952). Through some quotations from Hildesheimer’s masterpiece of absurd theatre, Die Uhren (The Clocks, 1962), which some critics considered heavily influenced by Ionesco, we consider the absurd dram aturgy of both Ionesco and Hildesheimer as an aesthetic reworking of the crisis of meaning experienced in the post-war period.
“Le Sedie” e altri “Orologi”. L’assurdo parabolico di Wolfgang Hildesheimer in dialogo con Eugène Ionesco
Emanuela Ferragamo
2026-01-01
Abstract
This contribution aims to examine the dramaturgical similarities and differences between the absurd works of Eugène Ionesco and those of the German-speaking playwright and writer Wolfgang Hildesheimer. The essay is divided into two parts. First, it examines the theoretical considerations expressed by Hildesheimer in the critical apparatus accompanying the pub lication and staging of his tryptic Spiele, in denen es dunkel wird (Plays, in which it becomes dark, 1958). In this context, the stylistic characteristics and recurring themes of absurdity in Hildesheimer’s work are outlined, and a comparative approach with Ionesco’s reflections is attempted: in particular, the relationship with the avant-garde movements of the 20th century and the definition of a new type of “subject” will be taken into consideration. Secondly, we focus on Hildesheimer’s proposal to consider Ionesco’s theatre of the absurd as “parabolic” and on his thesis that this aspect emerges in the tragic farce The Chairs (1952). Through some quotations from Hildesheimer’s masterpiece of absurd theatre, Die Uhren (The Clocks, 1962), which some critics considered heavily influenced by Ionesco, we consider the absurd dram aturgy of both Ionesco and Hildesheimer as an aesthetic reworking of the crisis of meaning experienced in the post-war period.
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