This book explores the curious relationship between opera and psychoanalysis. Focusing on the notion of death as it affects both subjects, Zizek and Dolar consider the parallels between death in opera and orgasm, which has traditionally been thought of as a little death. They explore how opera can sometimes become a substitution for that little death. They also write of the heralded death of opera asking if opera is dead as an art form, and, if so, how it can function in culture.