Eugene Ionesco
Man with Bags: A Play.
Grove Press, Inc., 1977. First printing of first Evergreen edition. Adapted by Israel Horovitz, based on a translation by Marie-France Ionesco of "L'homme aux valises" (Gallimard, 1975). 0394170210 140 pages.
Softcover volume, measuring approximately 5.25" x 8", diplays light shelfwear. Small circular perforation appears in upper right corner of front cover. Binding is sound. Pages are clean and bright.
"In this recent play by the world-renowned playwright, a man, now a citizen of France, is travelling through a nameless country where he lived as a child. The journey is as through a dream, the traveler struggling to keep hold of his papers his identity, and his three suitcases, one of which he loses to the authorities, the other two getting heavier as he goes along. He encounters living relatives he thought to be dead, and dead relatives he thought to be alive. The country he is visiting is at war and the traveler is constantly at odds with the authorities: the police who interrogate him speak French but cannot understand him; he is jailed in a nursing home; trapped in the embassy with his consul; entertained and spied on at a high-class party. Finally, he arrives at an impassioned scene with a woman he has loved and abandoned."