This thesis takes Ariadne's abandonment as a case study in order to examine the literary processes of reception that underlie the transmission of classical myth in different eras and cultural contexts - from Classical Antiquity through the Italian Renaissance. Rather than focusing on the ways in which visual representations of Ariadne relate to literary treatments, it draws attention to the literary reliance on a cultural framework, shared by writer and reader, that enables dynamic storytelling. It argues that literary variation of the myth is central to its successful transmission, not least because it allows for appropriations and adaptations that can be made to fit new social and religious parameters, such as Christian conventions in the Middle Ages. In focusing on the important role played by the visual arts in the classical tradition, this research further challenges the still prevalent misconception that the visual arts are secondary to literature, and refutes the common assumption that the relationship between image and text is unidirectional. It highlights the visual impulses leading to paradigm shifts in the literary treatment of the abandonment narrative, and examines the ways in which writers engage with the visual tradition in order to re-shape the ancient narrative. Throughout, attention is drawn to the visual and cultural framework shared by ancient writers and readers, and to the lack of engagement with this framework in traditional classical scholarship. Through its focus on the literary narratives' visuality and mutability, this thesis offers a new paradigm for studying classical myth and its reception.

Le lecteur joue un grand rôle dans la production et dans l’élaboration du sens. En effet, dès le premier contact avec un énoncé littéraire, le lecteur réel est engagé dans une « communication interactionnelle » avec l’auteur réel, surtout lorsqu'il s'agit de saisir le sens d'un récit « déroutant ». Pourtant, nous ne pouvons pas toujours préciser les types de lecteurs réels et leur capacité dans l’activation de l’acte de lecture qui doit être productif. La thèse essaye de mettre en lumière les particularités de la lecture littéraire et la difficulté d’approcher un énoncé littéraire, qui demeure un défi et une contrainte au vu de sa spécificité. Nous avons tenté de déterminer à l’aide d’exemples précis empruntés à Michel Butor, l’activité du lecteur réel que nous sommes, car ils présentent un outil intéressant pour approcher la question de la lecture chez Michel Butor, dans la mesure où ils illustrent le parcours d’une écriture « de voyage » qui va jusqu’à la mise en question du genre (Récit de voyage). Bref, il s’est avéré que la réception d’un texte est liée à nos choix les plus intimes, à nos partis pris, à nos sentiments et à nos pulsions… / The reader plays a tremendous role in the production and elaboration of meaning. Indeed, once facing a literary statement, the real reader becomes is committed (hired) with the real writer in a give-and-take relation, especially when it is a question of to seize the meaning of a «puzzling» text. Nevertheless, we cannot always advance the types of the real readers, nor can we determine their reading strategies and the related productivity. Actually, to clarify the nature and the task of the real reader is a complex work. The thesis tries to bring to light the peculiarities of the literary reading and the difficulty of approaching a literary statement. Such a reading remains, in fact, due to its particularity, a challenge and a constraint. We have tried to determine by means of precise examples Borrowed (Taken) from Michel Butor, the activity in which the real reader, whom we are, is engaged, because they present an interesting tool to approach the question of the reading at Michel Butor, as far as they illustrate the route (course) of a writing " with journey " which goes to the questioning of the kind (Travel story). In brief, it has turned out that the reception of a text is bound (connected) to our most intimate choices, to our taken parts, to our feelings and to our drives…