Abstract: This work studies the abandonment of children in Europe from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. Taking social discourse into account renews literary readings. Literary analyses reveal how significant fictional models are with regard to the way society formulates and imagines the act of abandonment.
Keyword: Littérature du xviiie siècle, littérature du xviie siècle, littérature de la Renaissance, poétique, histoire littéraire, histoire moderne, psychanalyse
