Part I: Innate Disposition and Mental Power
The Dionysian extrovert
Frantically active from cradle to grave
Speculator and entrepreneur
Inexhaustible energy
Intellect and emotions
inseparably intertwined
Cognitive faculties
The emotional factor
"Free-floating ideation"
Genesis of a freethinker
Early environment
School years: Le College Louis-le-Grand
Introduction to adulthood at La Societe du Temple
The English interlude
Part II: Scars of Early Injuries
Chere maman
The wife of the notary
The "bastard" of Rochebrune
"Always ill"
A socially licensed outlet: the stage
The art of circumventing subconscious defenses
Inflated self-esteem
Vanitatum vanitas
"Marginal man"
Egocentric impulse in conflict with ideology
Affair incomplete: impaired masculine self-image
First puppy love, then gallantry
Discomfort with "passionate" love
Preference for "simple friendship"
Missing: proper role models
Part III: Motivational Forces
A conflict never resolved: father and son
The tug of war
Guerrilla skirmishes by the pen
The supernatural father
The archetypal father
Le Petit Volontaire ("Master Willful")
young and old
Manipulator par excellence
Choice of a pseudonym
The Calas case
Miscarriage of justice
Voltaire in action.

Part IV: Relationships of Adulthood: Their Dynamics
"Divine Emilie"
Idyll in the life of a restless soul
A defaulted friendship
The poet and the king: alike, yet so different
A paradise shattered
Doctor Akakia
Core-conflict highlighted by the Maupertuis affair
An enduring bond
Curious attachments
Friend or parasite?
The magic of vicarious need-fulfillment
The niece: incest and avarice
Part V: Moral Censor and the Core
Fluidity of conscience
Morality
an inborn property?
Voltaire's code of ethics
The issue of hypocrisy
A truly "happy" man?
The optimism-pessimism dimension
The Narcissistic shield
Unmet affectional needs
When defenses falter
"Sad thoughts" and resilience
A clinical overview: life on the outer edge of consciousness
Vagaries of the aggressive impulse
Regressive features: stunted emotional growth
Paradoxical Voltaire: "monsieur le multiform"
Rescue operations
real and imaginary
Appendix A: the "splendid isolation" of the humanities
Appendix B: psychobiography today
Appendix C: behavioral clues as used in depth psychology.