Book excerpt: Essays translated from articles originally written in French, German, Italian, Modern Greek, and Russian detail oral tales from many cultures having the same story line and themes as the ancient Oedipus legend. They consider the possible relationships between modern oral and both medieval and classical literary versions, and look at 20th- century interpretation of the Sophoclean version of the narrative by Freud. No index. Paper edition (unseen), $17.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR