Famous French publication Le Figaro Littéraire dedicated the front page of its February 22, 2024, edition to three famous Romanian writers, Eugène Ionesco, Panait Istrati, and Emil Cioran, “the Romanians from Paris.”

Nicknamed "the philosopher of despair” due to his book On the Heights of Despair, Emil Cioran left Romania at 29 years old and settled in Paris for good. He lived as a stateless person after the communist authorities revoked his Romanian citizenship.

Eugen Ionescu, better known as Eugène Ionesco, was born in Slatina, two years before Cioran, in 1909. He was called “the father of the theater of the absurd,” and always loved France, where he lived most of his life and where he died at 84, stating that he felt in "exile" whenever he was in Romania, according to Euronews Romania.

Panait Istrati, nicknamed "the vagabond writer,” was born in the Romanian city of Brăila. His life was marked by poverty and hardship, and he became famous in France, where a street in Nice bears his name. His work was translated into over 30 languages. 

Luca Niculescu, the former Romanian ambassador to France, marked the appearance of the three Romanian writers on the front page of the February 22 edition of Le Figaro Littéraire. 

“A very pleasant surprise this morning. Three Romanians from Paris on the opening of Le Figaro Littéraire. Why? Because they are always relevant. A part of Eugen Ionescu's work was recently published in the famous Quarto collection by Gallimard. Panait Istrati is the hero of a comic book in two volumes published a few years ago. And 160 letters by Emil Cioran from the years 1930 - 1990 have also been published a few days ago, also by Gallimard,” Niculescu wrote on Facebook.

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Luca Niculescu on Facebook)