Freud and Tragedy sees tragedy as a concept of central importance both in Freud's works and in his own life. Politzer shows how for Freud the tragic experience - later formulated as the Oedipus complex - was at the root of the development of human civilization in the totem meal celebrating the killing of the primal father. In the light of this idea he examines Freud's interpretation of Sophocles, Shakespeare (Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, King Lear) and, through Michelangelo's statue, Moses; he also looks at his relationship with Jung in terms of the father-son conflict. A final chapter - designated "appendix" - portrays the younger generation of the 1970s, the American "flower-power" movement, as a "post-Oedipal, atragic generation." Politzer's book is also a celebration of Sigmund Freud as a literary author in his own right.