"La Fanfarlo": la prostituée rend au poète la monnaie de sa pièce

La Fanfarlo purports to reveal a novelistic truth that exposes the romantic lies of the failed poet Samuel Cramer. However, in his only attempt at novelistic fiction, Baudelaire is confronted with his own romantic lies and is caught up in the threads of the realist plot meant to ensnare his character. Narrator, author and reader are caught up in the ironic play of desire and seduction. Bodies, gold and texts are exchanged in a dangerous web that exposes an unbearable truth: the prostitute has the final word, and the twin metaphors of poetic creation as prostitution and as counterfeit money that subtend Baudelaire's entire poetic enterprise threaten to unravel.