'A strength of this book […] is not only that the author does justice to the intellectual dimension of Voltaire’s comic drama and his critical interests. The book is just as concerned with why Voltaire is funny, why his comedies are comic, and Goulbourne manages to explain this without falling into the predictable trap of entirely killing the jokes. One cannot, should not understand Voltaire without understanding his sense of humour, and happily one can through this book.'Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction1. From the Théâtre Français to the Théâtre de la Foire: L’Indiscret and La Fête de Bélesbat2. Voltaire and the comédie larmoyante: Le Comte de Boursoufle, L’Enfant prodigue and Les Originaux3. Rewriting Molière: L’Envieux and La Prude4. Comedy for the king: La Princesse de Navarre5. Comic heroines: La Femme qui a raison and Nanine6. Voltaire, the drame and l’infâme: Socrate, L’Ecossaise, Le Droit du seigneur and Saül7. Voltaire, national history and the opéra-comique: Charlot, Les Deux Tonneaux and Le Baron d’Otrante8. Returning to Molière: Le DépositaireConclusionBibliographyIndex

'A strength of this book […] is not only that the author does justice to the intellectual dimension of Voltaire’s comic drama and his critical interests. The book is just as concerned with why Voltaire is funny, why his comedies are comic, and Goulbourne manages to explain this without falling into the predictable trap of entirely killing the jokes. One cannot, should not understand Voltaire without understanding his sense of humour, and happily one can through this book.'Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction1. From the Théâtre Français to the Théâtre de la Foire: L’Indiscret and La Fête de Bélesbat2. Voltaire and the comédie larmoyante: Le Comte de Boursoufle, L’Enfant prodigue and Les Originaux3. Rewriting Molière: L’Envieux and La Prude4. Comedy for the king: La Princesse de Navarre5. Comic heroines: La Femme qui a raison and Nanine6. Voltaire, the drame and l’infâme: Socrate, L’Ecossaise, Le Droit du seigneur and Saül7. Voltaire, national history and the opéra-comique: Charlot, Les Deux Tonneaux and Le Baron d’Otrante8. Returning to Molière: Le DépositaireConclusionBibliographyIndex

'A strength of this book […] is not only that the author does justice to the intellectual dimension of Voltaire’s comic drama and his critical interests. The book is just as concerned with why Voltaire is funny, why his comedies are comic, and Goulbourne manages to explain this without falling into the predictable trap of entirely killing the jokes. One cannot, should not understand Voltaire without understanding his sense of humour, and happily one can through this book.'Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction1. From the Théâtre Français to the Théâtre de la Foire: L’Indiscret and La Fête de Bélesbat2. Voltaire and the comédie larmoyante: Le Comte de Boursoufle, L’Enfant prodigue and Les Originaux3. Rewriting Molière: L’Envieux and La Prude4. Comedy for the king: La Princesse de Navarre5. Comic heroines: La Femme qui a raison and Nanine6. Voltaire, the drame and l’infâme: Socrate, L’Ecossaise, Le Droit du seigneur and Saül7. Voltaire, national history and the opéra-comique: Charlot, Les Deux Tonneaux and Le Baron d’Otrante8. Returning to Molière: Le DépositaireConclusionBibliographyIndex