The STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEŞ-BOLYAI issue article summary

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Les vierges folles, a play by Baudelaire? This article aims at showing the importance of literary projects in Baudelaire’s work. The example I have chosen is a theatrical project, Les Vierges sages et les vierges folles, inspired by a passage of Matthew’s Gospel (25, 1-13). The baudelairian manuscripts keep only the title, and, in order to analyze what this project would have been, I compare it to other works dealing with prostitutes (= “vierges folles”): Baudelaire, Le Peintre de la vie moderne (1863), Alphonse Esquiros, Les Vierges folles (1840). Then, I try to establish a link between Baudelaire’s “play” and a medieval liturgical drama, called Sponsus and based on the same evangelical theme. Eventually, I enumerate some possible sources for the baudelairian text, paintings and sculptures well known to the art critic, which might have given him the idea of such an interesting project.

Keywords: Baudelaire, medieval drama, prostitution, scuplture, painting