Oedipus: myth and complex

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From the Introduction: In this volume Patrick Mullahy approaches the familiar problem of the Oedipus complex in an unfamiliar way. For the first time, Sophocles' Oedipus trilogy is published together with the various psychoanalytic interpretations of the Oedipus myth in one volume. That such an approach is new may seem surprising, since a thorough knowledge of the myth should be the premise for all interpretations. The reasons for the peculiar dissociation between the myth and the complex can be found in our general attitude toward myths. In the last century knowledge of Greek mythology was essential to being an educated person. People studied it and admired it. They interpreted it in a variety of ways-historically, philosophically or esthetically but hardly anyone thought of the possibility that the myth could have any connection with oneself and one's life here and now. With an increasing tendency not to bother with things which were not "practical," the Greek myth was relegated to a marginal area of superfluous and useless information. Then came a revival of just one Greek myth-that of Oedipus-because of the use one could make of it in psychotherapy. Oedipus returned through a back door, as it were.--page i.

subjects: Oedipus (Greek mythology),  Oedipus complex,  Psychoanalysis,  Psychotherapy,  Mythen,  Oedipuscomplex,  Psychoanalytic Theory,  Psychoanalyse,  Psychanalyse,  Complexe d'Œdipe,  Mathematics,  History