“He understands that the world is an enormous farce, a canular played by God against man, and that he has to play God’s game and laugh about it.”
canular refers to hoaxes, humorous deceptions.
The Paris Review interview (1984)
Context: You know, the Cathars believed that the world was not created by God but by a demon who had stolen a few technological secrets from Him and made this world — which is why it doesn’t work. I don’t share this heresy. I’m too afraid! But I put it in a play called This Extraordinary Brothel, in which the protagonist doesn’t talk at all. There is a revolution, everybody kills everybody else, and he doesn’t understand. But at the very end, he speaks for the first time. He points his finger towards the sky and shakes it at God, saying, “You rogue! You little rogue!” and he bursts out laughing. He understands that the world is an enormous farce, a canular played by God against man, and that he has to play God’s game and laugh about it.
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Eugéne Ionesco59
Romanian playwright 1909–1994Related quotes
“Not only does God play dice with the world—He does not let us see what He has rolled.”
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Imaginary Magnitude" (1981), "Lecture XLIII", tr. Marc E. Heine (1984)
“Playing God was a sweetly addictive game.”
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“God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.”
Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher
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Colin Singleton, p. 20
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