¿Taking the Gold Out of Egypt?: Prostitution and the Economy of Salvation in the Vida de María Egipciaca

• Autores: Emily Francomano
• Localización: Hispanic review, ISSN-e 1553-0639, Vol. 82, Nº 4, 2014, págs. 397-420
• Idioma: inglés
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• Dialnet Métricas: 3 Citas
• Resumen

  • This article explores how the thirteenth-century verse Vida de Marý´a Egipciaca portrays the sins, conversion, and spectacular penance of Mary of Egypt in terms of her rejection of and eventual entrance into orthodox economies. As I argue, hagiographic legends about prostitutes have economic subtexts and the Vida offers paradoxical visions of prostitution both as a foil and as an analogue for the financial metaphors that undergird the very economy of salvation. In the Vida, prostitution, as practiced by the repentant Marý´a, not only represents sexual depravity, but also a move from economic indifference and the unregulated distribution of sexual activities to a consciousness of just prices and exchange values. The poem thus offers a striking medieval articulation of Christian salvation economy, relating the salvation economy to notions of women�s value as objects of exchange. In so doing, the Vida also interlaces the context of thirteenth-century Mediterranean economic culture with its poetics.