Oedipus is my favorite. Absolutely dripping with dramatic irony in the most tragic of ways. ( )

Read in publication order.
Antigone - 3 Stars
Oedipus the King - 4 Stars
Oedipus at Colonus - 3.5 Stars ( )

I have no special insight. They are all three of very good quality, just like the many people say. The two that Oedipus is alive for—the fate and free-will themed ones—I cannot say that I understand, for I am not one of Calvin and the Popes (an 80s band, I assure you—jk) people who understand exactly the nature of all reality. I guess I believe we have some free will, but very little, although the little we have is very important; I guess that makes me catholic. If pressed I cannot really marshal Sophocles saints and scriptures to explain all things, however. All I would venture even guessing is that Oedipus is a problematic hero because of the violence he visits on himself. But, you know.

I would say I understand “Antigone” better, and the themes of the state and the family, duty and the individual, men and women. Antigone and Creon are both deeply cringe-worthy, perhaps Creon in a more public way, but then he was Mr Public. They both try to cling to their own shard of the truth and use it to cut the other one. Very regrettable. I would say that I know Antigone and Creon very well, since my mother thinks she is Antigone and my father thinks he is Creon—without using those words, of course. I suppose that you could say that much of my writing is about Antigone and Creon, since they both embody flawed gender identities and politics so uncompromisingly, fully, neurotically. I suppose it would be tiresome to go on further; if you’re curious you could read almost anything else I’ve written. They are, after all, my parents.

4/17/22

[2021-11-19]