The Oedipus Casebook: Reading Sophocles' Oedipus the King

Who killed Laius? Most readers assume Oedipus did. At the play's end, he stands convicted of murdering his father, marrying his mother, and triggering a deadly plague. Assembling all the evidence and placing the play in the context of Greek scapegoat rites, this book reopens the Oedipus case and lets readers judge for themselves. It features a new translation with facing Greek text and selections from a stellar assortment of critics including Walter Burkert, Terry Eagleton, Michel Foucault, René Girard, and Jean-Pierre Vernant.