Ionesco – découverte de l’unicité des créations néologiques individuelles

Abstract

Translating Ionesco means wanting to overcome Everest: it must be done with the caution and care of an experienced mountaineer who knows the art and technicality of crossing. The Ionescian image is unique. It is constructed at the same time from several senses that must be clearly distinguished from each other. In particular, there is a certain risk of confusion between image, linguistic expression of an analogy and image in the sense of mental representation. (St. Ullmann, 43) At Ionesco everything is created as a result of analog processing.

The image in the sense that concerns us may be defined as the linguistic expression of an analogy or a comparison. It always compares two objects as far apart as possible. Any image of Ionesco is to some extent metaphorical: it is a mirror where life can contemplate not its own face, but rather a truth about its face. We know that there are two fundamental types of associative relations: those which are based on the resemblance of the two terms and those which are based on their contiguity. All these types are expensive and abundantly “exploited” in the creation of Ionesco. Translating the image created by this language magician is prosodic, while his language is absolutely poetic.