In contemporary psychoanalytic thought, Freud's concept of the Oedipus complex is inclined to overshadow the interpretation of the myths surrounding Oedipus. The authors counter this situation by reversing it, utilizing the Oedipus myths to interpret the Oedipus complex. In so doing they expose it as a sheer cover story. They unmask the Oedipus complex, revealing it to be a drama staged not by Oedipus but by Jocasta, the mother, and Laius, the father. For neither Sophocles' drama nor the Oedipus myths give any indication that Oedipus is enamoured of Jocasta and born with the intention of killing his father Laius. What the myths do mention are Jocaste's passion for Oedipus whom she loves more than his father and Laius' desire to eliminate Oedipus as his rival from birth. Freud neglected these aspects of the Oedipal myths. In uncovering them the authors come to the conclusion that Oedipus did not have an Oedipus complex.

Introduction , Two questions , The abandonment of the seduction theory-reasons , The invention of the Oedipus complex , The myth of the primal horde , The myth of the dissolution of the Oedipus complex , Oedipus myths , Freud's blind spot , Oedipus myths and the Oedipus complex , The heterosexual and homosexual processing of the oedipal drama , Unconscious oedipal messages and answers , Oedipus Tyrannus-a cover story , Oedipus at Colonus-the lost blindness