Abstract EN:

This thesis aims at studying the myth of Sisyphus in European and American literature. Adopting a comparative approach, the thesis retraces its chronological evolution from its origins in Homeric poetry to the present day. The investigation of the numerous versions of the myth sheds light on its development throughout the ages and gives an account of its principal constant and varying elements. The thesis analyses the foundation of the myth in Greek and Latin literature as well as its reinterpretations since the Middle Ages, especially in the nineteenth and in the twentieth century. This study shows the fertility and the adaptability of the myth of Sisyphus, a person considered to be crafty and immoderate in ancient literature. The punished serves as a term of comparison in a diversity of contexts: he represents the suffering of the unfortunate lover, the vanity of ambition and the futility of certain types of labour. Linked to the absurd by Albert Camus, the myth is frequently politicised in the second half of the twentieth century.