Cagliostro (1743-1795) inventeur d’Arsène Lupin

Abstract

Arsene Lupin, one of the most famous characters of the french detective novel, is inspired from historical but also from fictional sources, especially by the novels of Alexandre Dumas. There are indeed a lot of similarities between Joseph Balsamo and Lupin, a «modernized Cagliostro». Joséphine Balsamo, the granddaughter of the charlatan is also noticeably present in the cycle. The heroic character of Dumas’ novels hence tends to be everywhere in the adventures of Arsène Lupin, revealing various of its ideological and historical issues.

Keywords

• Cagliostro
• Lupin (Arsène)
• Balsamo (Joseph)
• crime novel
• origins.