This thesis is concerned with the reception of the ancient mythical character Narcisssus in Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and the prose poem The Disciple, André Gide's The Tractate of Narcissus (Theory of the Symbol) and Paul Valéry's poem Narcissus speaks. Its primary concern are the differences in these authors' renditions of the character compared to ancient sources, especially Ovid's Metamorphoses. The introductory section lists the oldest preserved records of the mythical story, which serve as an outline of the ancient vision of Narcissus. The second, more extensive part is dedicated to short interpretations of the above-mentioned literary works. The aim of the thesis is to examine the changes introduced to the figure of Narcissus in various literary depictions, from the hero of a Greco-Roman myth to a modern subject.
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