Volo ergo sum: Le désir de noblesse chez Alfred Jarry et Mateiu I. Caragiale

Abstract

Our paper analyzes the position, similar in several points, of two writers –Alfred Jarry (1873-1907) and Mateiu I. Caragiale (1885-1936)– regarding nobility, as it can be retrieved in their biography, correspondence and literary work.

Their desire to be noble, leading to the mystification of origins, is placed in a decadent context, within the general urge to replace the face by a mask believed to be more adequate, to invent for oneself an existence that is more interesting and representative than the given circumstances.