Aristotle argued that it was the model on which all other tragedies should be based. Freud considered it the key to unlocking the subconscious. And many have agreed with D.H. Lawrence’s assessment that it is “the finest drama of all time.” It is Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, one of the most celebrated—and disputed—works in all of Western literature. Classicists, philosophers, psychologists, and countless others have fought—and continue to fight—over the meaning of this ancient Greek drama, unable to agree on anything except that it’s a timeless masterpiece.
Like so many before him, Ken Glazer has long been under the spell of Oedipus Rex. In Searching for Oedipus, Glazer, a Washington, DC–based attorney, reconstructs the scholarly debate but moves far beyond it, slicing through the cacophony of clichés and controversies to lay bare the many ways in which Oedipus Rex speaks to us today. Glazer offers a fresh and personal way of looking at this classic work by recounting what Oedipus Rex has meant to him at different points in his life and how, gradually over many years, he came to answer the age-old Riddle of Oedipus for himself.
Along the way, Searching for Oedipus shows just how deeply Oedipus Rex is embedded in our cultural DNA and how strongly its influence continues to be felt, whether in modern detective fiction, existentialist literature, contemporary debates about human nature, or even movies like The Sixth Sense and Planet of the Apes.
Both a valuable resource for scholars and a riveting, accessible analysis for the general reader, Searching for Oedipus brings to life a work of art that, even after 2,500 years, still retains the power to shock and inspire.
