"LES PRÉCIEUSES RIDICULES" BY MOLIÈRE: AN INQUIRY INTO ITS ORIGINS
The article traces the sources of Molière's play “The Affected Ladies” (“Les Précieuses ridicules”), which mocks behavior and talk characteristic of ‘précieuses' - the refined ladies who frequented the exquisite French salons of the mid 17th century. The comedy turns out to be a dramatic cento, i.e. a text composed of stereotypic theatrical situations and of links to the Italian and French treatises on elegance.