Death Reloaded: A Rendition of Intrinsic Disposition in Matei Calinescu’s Un altfel de jurnal

Abstract

What is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of death? Among the popular responses, based on common knowledge, it would be: ‘the end,’ closure, and finality of both body and/or spirit (depending on beliefs). But could it be possible to regard death as a foundation for identity narrative? Can it represent a beginning? Can death define life, sustain it, and even prolong it? In the following essay, I attempt to identify circumstances in which life is an aftermath of a death, not in physical assumption, but intrinsic evolution. I will be looking at Matei Călinescu’s existential path as confessed in Un altfel de Jurnal: Ieșirea din timp [Another type of journal: Stepping out of time] and I will be focusing on the consequences and influence of death while justifying the self.