Oedipus: A Folklore Casebook

by Lowell Edmunds (Editor), Alan Dundes (Editor)

Overview

Classicist Lowell Edmunds and folklorist Alan Dundes both note that “the Oedipus tale is not likely to ever fade from view in Western civilization, [as] the tale continues to pack a critical family drama into a timeless form.” Looking beyond the story related in Sophocles’ drama—the ancient Theban myth of the son who unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother—Oedipus: A Folklore Casebook examines variations of the tale from Africa and South America to Eastern Europe and the Pacific. Taking sociological, psychological, anthropological, and structuralist perspectives, the nineteen essays reveal the complexities and multiple meanings of this centuries-old tale.
    In addition to the well-known interpretations of the Oedipus myth by Sigmund Freud and James Frazer, this casebook includes insightful selections by an international group of scholars. Essays on a Serbian Oedipus legend by Friedrich Krauss and on a Gypsy version by Mirella Karpati, for example, stress the psychological stages of atonement after the Oedipus figure learns the truth about his actions. Anthropologist Melford E. Spiro investigates the myth’s appearance in Burma and the significance of the mother’s identification with the dragon (the sphinx figure). Vladimir Propp’s essay, translated into English for the first time, and Lowell Edmunds’s theoretical review discuss the relation of the Oedipus story to the larger study of folklore. The result is a comprehensive and fascinating casebook for students of folklore, classical mythology, anthropology, and sociology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299148539
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	11/01/1995
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Lowell Edmunds is professor of classics at Rutgers University. He is the author of many books including Myth in Homer: A Handbook and Approaches to Greek Mythology.  Alan Dundes is professor of folklore and anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. His other casebooks published by the University of Wisconsin Press include Folk Law, The Cockfight, The Evil Eye, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and The Blood Libel Legend. He is also the author of Parsing through Customs: Essays by a Freudian Folklorist.

Table of Contents

Contents Introduction Oedipus Rex in Albania The Oedipus Legend in South Slavic Folk Tradition An Oedipus Myth in Gypsy Tradition The Legend of Oedipus Oedipus in Alur Folklore Oedipus in Bushman Folklore Oedipus in Papuan Folklore The Dragon of Tagaung Oedipus-Type Tales in Oceania Oedipus in the Light of Folklore Is the Legend of Oedipus a Folktale? On the Oedipus Myth The Sphinx in the Oedipus Legend Freud on Oedipus Oedipus and Erichthonius: Some Observations of Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic Order Cu-chulainn and the Origin of Totemism The Oedipus Complex in Burma Why Oedipus Killed Laius: A Note on the Complementary Oedipus Complex in Greek Drama The Indian Oedipus Suggestions for Further Reading on Oedipus: A Selected Bibliography Bibliography Addendum

Editorial Reviews

Classicist Edmunds and folklorist Dundes provide a superb anthology.”—Robert A. Segal, Religious Studies Review

From the Publisher