Abstract
On the back cover of Andrei Dósa’s first novel, Ierbar, Alexandru Vakulovski, a Moldavian writer and literary critic, highlights the (possible) connection between the characters in Dósa’s text and the decadent (anti)heroes from Mateiu Caragiale’s Craii de Curtea-Veche. Proposing a lucid walk on the reading path opened by Vakulovski, the current paper aims to present a comparative study of the two novels published at a time distance of ninety years to explore the level of kinship on which the narrative actants from the mentioned books are positioned, as well as the similarities and differences of the social, political and economic context in which they are living.