Ödipus und die Sphinx, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, 1906, First Edition

Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal (1874 – 1929) was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist.

Oedipus and the Sphinx is an analytical drama in three acts published in 1906. Like Elektra, Oedipus and the Sphinx is based on ancient material. The text is one of the works of Viennese modernism. The main theme of the era was the excessive demands placed on people to subjectively process the rapid social, technical and scientific developments from the second half of the 19th century onwards. Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis had a significant influence on it.