The essay "Tribute to the tragic muse" was published in 1970. It is a work that had occupied Terzakis "almost as much as a life's work", but it would never have been completed if it had not been commissioned by Kostas E. Tsiropoulos, pressuring him to gather material from his drama classes at the National Theater.

It is a milestone book for theater studies in Greece, given that until then there were few texts that dealt with the essence of the concept of tragedy (the texts of Chourmouziou, already from 1936, belong to the brilliant exceptions), as the majority of Greek literature remained attached to historical contexts, the Aristotelian definition, and the relevant scenic/directorial notes, unless it deviated into impressionistic rhetoric of archaeological reverence.

In contrast to these, "Tribute to the tragic muse" is a different, antithetical, and non-systematic book according to the author's own admission, idiosyncratic and subjective, insisting on an existential approach to the subject, which is absolutely expected from an author of the Generation of the Thirties.