Three hilarious and provocative plays by the absurdist pioneer who remains "one of the most important and influential figures in the modern theater" (Library Journal).

The author of such modern classics asThe Bald Soprano,Exit the King,Rhinoceros, andThe Chairs, Eugene Ionesco's plays have become emblematic of Absurdist theatre and the French avant-garde. This essential collection combinesThe New TenantwithAmédéeandVictims of Duty-plays Richard Gilman has called, along withThe Killer, Ionesco's "greatest plays, works of the same solidity, fulness, and permanence as [those of] his predecessors in the dramatic revolution that began with Ibsen and is still going on."

InAmédée, the title character and his wife have a problem-not so much the corpse in their bedroom as the fact that it's been there for fifteen years and is now growing, slowly but surely crowding them out of their apartment.

InThe New Tenant, a similar crowding is caused by an excess of furniture-as Harold Hobson said in theLondon Times, "there is not a dramatist . . . who can make furniture speak as eloquently as Ionesco, and here he makes it the perfect, the terrifying symbol of the deranged mind."

InVictims of Duty, Ionesco parodies the conformity of modern life by plunging his characters into an obscure search for "mallot with at."