Main Sources Cited in the Text ix
Polemical Introduction: The Triumph of Self 1
I Ancient Ideals
1 The Hero 19
2 The Saint 51
3 The Thinker 100
II Ideals in the Modern World
4 Shakespeare and the Early Modern Self 137
5 The Poet 185
6 Freud and the Ideal Self 217
Polemical Conclusion: In the Culture of the Counterfeit 247
Bibliography 261
Ac know ledg ments 279
Index 281