Introduction : on the stupidity of oysters
Horsing around : the Marriage blanc of Nietzsche, Andreas-Salomé, and Rée
Groping for an opening : Rilke between animal and angel
Electric caresses : Rilke, Balthus, and Mitsou
Between perfection and temptation : Musil, Claudine, and Veronica
"The creature whom we love" : Proust and jealousy
The love tone : capture and captivation
"The soft word that comes deceiving" : Fournival's Bestiary of love
The cuckold and the cockatrice : Fourier and Hazlitt
The animal bride and horny toads
Unsettled being : Ovid's Metamorphoses
Nymphomania and faunication
Senseless arabesques : Wendy and Lucy
The goat in the machine (a reprise)
Conclusion : on cetaceous maidens
Epilogue : animal magnetism and alternative currents (or Tesla and the white dove).