Shortly after the production of his first play (The Bald Soprano), Eugene Ionesco agreed to act in a stage adaptation of Dostoevsky's novel The Possessed by Nicolas Bataille and Akakia Viala. He played the role of Stepan Trofimovich. Initially, Ionesco was uncomfortable in the role, because he actually had the impression of being "possessed" or "dispossessed", of losing himself, of renouncing his own personality in favor of the character's. Eventually, however, he came to believe that by losing himself in the character of Stepan Trofimovich, he had actually found himself in a new sense. In other words, by understanding another human being, he came to a better understanding himself.