The plot of the play consists of nothing other than the gradual rising and artistically protracted revelation--similar to the work of psychoanalysis--that Oedipus is himself the murderer of Laius, but also the son of the murdered man and Jocasta. King Oedipus, who has slain his father and married his mother, is only the wish-fulfillment of our childhood.
Sigmund Freud, Interpretation of Dreams

To me personally, Oedipus is a kind of symbol of the human intelligence, which cannot rest until it has solved all the riddles--even the last riddle, to which the answer is that human...

Offenbach's operas were a significant force for cultural change, both in his own time and in the decades to follow. In this book, Laurence Senelick demonstrates the ways in which this musical phenomenon took hold globally, with Offenbach's work offering an alternative, irreverent, sexualized view of life which audiences found liberating, both personally and socially. In the theatre, the composer also inspired cutting-edge innovations in stagecraft and design, and in this book, he is recognized as a major cultural influence, with an extensive impact on the spheres of literature, art, film, and...