Fate and Ambiguity in Oedipus the King

Stelios Ramfos
With a Foreword by Olympia Dukakis

ISBN 978-0-972466-19-6

About the Book

The Oedipus story is about the quest for truth. It reaches a deep spiritual center with Oedipus’s somber search for his identity and the mystery and shame associated with his name. The emotional power of his search for the truth about himself is relevant and challenges today’s readers to search for their own truth and identity. Fate and Ambiguity in Oedipus the King is a literary and philosophical reflection on such searches, and continues the discussion of the play by intellectuals from Aristotle to present-day scholars.

About the Author

The author, Stelios Ramfos, is a leading Greek intellectual and contemporary scholar. His career in academia has resulted in the publication of more than twenty books, including Like a Pelican in the Wilderness: Reflections on the Sayings of the Desert Fathers. These titles have fostered development of the philosophical idea of the nature of personhood that is the goal of human existence, starting from the essential core of being. Ramfos is a graduate of the Universities of Athens and Paris. He holds a doctorate in philosophy from the Sorbonne.

The translator, Norman Russell, is a British scholar in his own right. He is the author and translator of numerous titles, including The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition. Russell studied at the University of London and received a doctorate in theology from Oxford University.

From the Foreword by Renowned Actress Olympia Dukakis

Fate and Ambiguity in Oedipus the King takes the reader on a journey through the play, concentrating on the force of the dramatic action and the poetic means by which Sophocles achieves his effects. In analyzing this quest, the book offers us fascinating insights into the nature of poetry, the function of translation, and the value of redemptive suffering.